Special Purpose Companies led and managed by New York-based Perilune Group and Ziki Slav of SHZ Aviation have this week sold nine 2013-14 vintage A319s (s/n’s 5327, 6085, 6154, 6263, 6277, 6310, 6349, 6384 and 6393) on lease to American Airlines, Inc. to a Dublin, Ireland-based lessor. In connection with the acquisition, the buyer also assumed the structured financing associated with the aircraft, which is provided by 11 international financial institutions. Vedder Price and Clifford Chance acted as legal counsel to the sellers. The sale of the aircraft and the transfer of the financing were arranged by SkyWorks Leasing, acting on behalf of the sellers.
“It was a significant advantage to work with a single buyer for all nine of the aircraft in this portfolio who also had an in-depth knowledge of the Airbus narrow body family, an existing business relationship with American Airlines and most importantly, the financial sophistication to penetrate our investment structure” said David Izhakoff, one of the Managing Partners of Perilune Group. Izhakoff added that “an important part of Perilune’s investment strategy in the commercial aviation asset class relies on working with ‘best-in-class’ financial and legal advisors that support value creation by enabling the closing of these types of transactions.”
Ziki Slav of SHZ Aviation added: “Our investors took considerable risk investing in an American Airlines related transaction when the airline was still in bankruptcy. By exiting now, they managed to take full advantage of the tremendous improvement in American’s credit profile and realize substantial gains on their positions.”