A creditor group, which together hold around $600m of AMR bonds, formed of Carlson Capital, Claren Road Asset Management, Cyrus Capital Partners, Litespeed Management and Pentwater Capital Management are getting closer to a deal with AMR Corporation (which owns American Airlines) to inject around $2bn into the Chapter 11 company in a rights-offering backstop. Yesterday they sought court permission to pay the fees for Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, the hedge funds' lawyers and financial advisers respectively, as the group moves towards a deal that would see AMR exit bankruptcy intact and independent. The deal if it came off it would in any event give American Airlines great strength in any merger negotiations with US Airways. A hearing is now scheduled for 20th September 2012.
Meanwhile airlines in Vietnam are scouring the market to get financing for their fleet expansion ambitions Vietnam Airlines, the national flag carrier, at the moment is using the Vietnam Aircraft Leasing Company (VALC), and has received one A321 in the first stage of a deal for 10 new A321-200s purchased by VALC from Airbus.
Vietnam Airlines plans to purchase up to 26 new Airbus aircraft during the 2011-2014 period, with seven expected to be delivered during this current year.
Over the past three years, Vietnam commercial aviation has grown four fold.
The question for many though is can this be sustained given the fact that Vietnam has very little by way of infrastructure. Vietnam is in a very good position to learn from the mistakes of the Indian aviation sector.
De-regulation and investment in hubs and connections at main cities would see this country boom. Financiers remain sceptical and well they should, but the Vietnamese government has proven itself to be far more proactive and aviation friendly than anything seen in India. Watch this space as they say.
Hedge fund interest in AA; Vietnam Airlines mulls aircraft purchase
