London‐based aviation finance specialist Magi Partners is pleased to announce that Neil Lewis has joined the company as Commercial Director. Neil originally specialised in aircraft finance in Freshfields (London and Tokyo) and subsequently spent six years at Nomura Babcock & Brown (NBB) in Tokyo, followed by seven years as General Counsel EMEA and Director of Babcock & Brown, London.
Whilst at NBB Neil was central to the creation and development of the structure and documentation for the widely used Japanese Lease with Call Option (JOLCO) structure. Neil’s experience in general, and his time at NBB in particular, will be highly complementary to Magi’s core business, which is focussed on the placing of aircraft financings in the Korean institutional market, undertaken in joint venture with Seoul‐based Youjee Partners.
Peter Vardigans, co‐founder of Magi Partners said: “We are delighted to welcome Neil to the Magi team. As one of the most experienced practitioners in the world of cross border structured aircraft finance, his skills will complement and enhance both Magi’s and Youjee’s ability to deliver innovative and reliable financing solutions for our airline and investor clients.”