Emirates plans aircraft lease deal worth $587.5 million

Emirates plans aircraft lease deal worth $587.5 million

Emirates-Airline-undecided-on-550-million

June 24, 2012 10:25 by Reuters

Dubai’s Emirates airline will lease aircraft from a financing firm which will issue certificates worth $587.5 million across two tranches, a prospectus showed on Thursday.

Doric Nimrod Air Finance Alpha will issue the Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificates (EETCs) to finance the purchase of the Airbus A380 aircraft.

The Class A notes will raise $433.7 million and have a 10.4 year maturity while the class B notes will raise $153.7 million and carry a 6.9 year maturity, the preliminary terms showed.

The notes will in part be used to finance four new Airbus A380 aircraft which will be leased to Emirates.

Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum told reporters on Thursday that the airline would “soon” announce plans for about $1 billion in financing for the four aircraft. He did not give further details.

Goldman Sachs Inc is arranging investor meetings which begin in London on June 22 and continue in the United States next week.

Expected timing of the transaction is next week.

An EETC is a financial security used in aircraft finance where the airline gets ownership of the planes on maturity of the certificates. The transactions are similar to a form of secured debt financing like mortgages.

(Reporting by Rachna Uppal and Praveen Menon; Editing by Amran Abocar)