Not to be outdone in the ABS name stakes, Aviation Capital Group's pre-sale report is out for its $250.8 million asset backed securitisation issued by Merlin Aviation Holdings, which refinances a portfolio of 18 aircraft (see Americas news below). Also nearing close is Gecas’s Labrador ABS, which is the first aircraft ABS portfolio sold into South Korea. Market sources state that the deal has been extremely well executed and poised for a successful conclusion on Thursday – more news on that here.
There remain a couple of ABS deals in the works but time is running out to close transaction before the end of the year but the market appetite is certainly there for this sort of paper. As ABS structures are constantly tweaked to enhance the specific transaction for the issuer and types of assets, despite the relative paucity of the aviation ABS product compared to other assets types, more and more investors seeing yield continue to pile in. The aviation ABS market, including the most recent deals, are explored in greater detail in the forthcoming issue of Airline Economics, which will be distributed at our Growth Frontiers Dublin conference in January, where we will also be published our talent guide supplement for the aviation industry. Please take a few minutes to fill in the survey (details below) to have your say in this most important assessment of the health of the market.