CDB Aviation, a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing (CDB Leasing), entered into its inaugural Sustainability Linked Loan (SLL) on December 1, 2023, anchored with a $625 million syndicated term loan facility.
“This innovative facility marks a landmark transaction for the aviation finance space,” said Jie Chen, CDB Aviation’s Chief Executive Officer. “We’re thrilled to have leveraged our comprehensive sustainability strategy, with a particular focus on the activities across the Environmental and Social aspects of our operations, to secure this first major sustainability-linked loan syndicated facility among aircraft lessors.”
The SLL parameters of the facility are contingent on the satisfaction of Sustainability Performance Targets (SPTs), which are based on the lessor’s three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These include two strong Environmental and one Social KPIs related to reducing the carbon intensity of CDB Aviation’s fleet, focusing on the most fuel-efficient aircraft; increasing the share of new generation aircraft in the lessor’s fleet, pursuing its target to reach 60% of new generation aircraft (by number of aircraft) by the end of 2025; and increasing the level of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)-related training for the workforce.
Moody’s Investors provided the Second Party Opinion as to the appropriateness of the KPIs and SPTs, confirming the conformity of the facility with the Sustainability Linked Loan Principles (SLLPs), with a best-in-class SQS2 rating.
The facility was financed by a group of mandated lead arranger banks, including: Crédit Agricole-CIB (CA-CIB), BNP Paribas, HSBC, Natixis, China Minsheng Banking Corp., China Guangfa Bank and China Construction Bank.
CA-CIB acted as sole sustainability agent, as well as lead sustainability structuring advisor jointly with BNP Paribas and HSBC. Natixis acted as sustainability structuring bank. CA-CIB also acted as agent of the facility. Milbank acted as counsel to the lessor, while Allen & Overy (London) acted as counsel to the lenders. JunHe and Matheson acted as PRC and Irish counsel, respectively.
“Delivering on our platform’s ESG vision and responsibilities, this facility advances the sustainability of our business and enhances our ability to contribute to progress in reaching the industry’s net-zero target. We’re committed to being a leader on ESG matters and efforts, managing our impact as a business and maximising our influence to help drive positive change in the aircraft leasing community,” said Chen.