Ishka : Ishka Provides Trusted, Expert Assessment And Opinion On The Latest Industry Trends And Emerging Issues In The Global Aviation Finance Market.

Castlelake explores possible CLO as it expands financing book

US lessor Castlelake is exploring a potential collaterised loan obligation (CLO) based on aircraft loans which could make it the first entity to create a publicly-traded CLO for the asset class, as it expands its aircraft financing division. more

02/09/2021

Unsecured debt data sheets: Quarter-to-date lessor and airline bond issuances

This is a new series of reports. Download data sheets with summaries of Q3 2021 issuances to date by aircraft lessors and airlines. more

19/08/2021

Castlelake prices mid-life aircraft ABS refi

US fund manager and leasing firm Castlelake priced a $450 million aircraft ABS refinancing last week: Castlelake Aircraft Structured Trust 2017-1R (CLAS 2017-1R). more

27/07/2021

White Oak’s Thrust 2021-1 tests ABS market appetite for widebody engines

White Oak Commercial Aviation has been in the market for several weeks with a $485 million aircraft engine securitisation, Thrust 2021-1, with a unique collateral of 100% widebody engines. more

15/06/2021

SKY achieves record yield on aircraft ABS

Aircraft lessor SKY Leasing (SKY) has closed its $663 million ABS SLAM 2021-1 which achieved a record low yield for an aircraft ABS. more

07/06/2021

Lessor bonds: $9.1bn in Q1, Chinese lessors issue $2.1bn in April

Aircraft lessors tracked by Ishka rounded off the first quarter of 2021 with $9.19 billion in bond issuances, a two-fold jump from the previous quarter. more

27/04/2021

Airline bonds Q1 2021: European airlines rush to the unsecured market

Airline unsecured Euro issuances topped €4.85 billion ($5.82 billion) in the first quarter, surpassing the entire volume of unsecured issuances during 2020 of €3.56 billion ($4.23 billion) by 53%. more

12/04/2021

ACG’s CEO on lessor M&A and the appeal of a ‘hybrid’ aircraft ABS

Aviation Capital Group’s (ACG) new CEO Tom Baker believes a wave of recent lessor M&A activity will “create opportunities” for other leasing firms and describes how the market might be ready for a hybrid aircraft ABS involving both aircraft leases and loans. more

25/03/2021

Q4 2020: ALC recoups 40% of deferred rent and eyes SLB deals

Air Lease Corporation (ALC) has recouped 40% of the total rent deferred throughout the pandemic according to its latest results. The Californian lessor agreed a total of $240.4 million in deferred rent to its lessees last year more

02/03/2021

in Lessors and Lease Rates , Capital Markets , Aircraft Finance Market

Avation bond extension buys lessor breathing room

Singapore-headquartered lessor Avation agreed a five-year bond extension with bondholders in February furthering a trend of lessors forced to reach distressed debt agreements with creditors in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. more

23/02/2021

in Lessors and Lease Rates , Capital Markets , Aircraft Finance Market

UPDATED: Lessors raise $7.83bn in three-week bond spree

Aircraft lessors tracked by Ishka raise $7.83 billion in USD issuances during a three-week period from mid-January to early February, taking advantage of a benign market for IG-rated issuers to attain some of the lowest coupons in recent history. more

18/02/2021

Airline bonds Q4 2020: $10.6bn of unsecured issues round off 78% yearly surge

The Covid-19 crisis drove a 78% surge in unsecured capital markets debt by airlines around the world in 2020, with 212 issuances amounting to $55.3 billion, up from $31.1 billion in 2019. more

29/01/2021

in Airline Profiles , Capital Markets , Aircraft Finance Market

Castlelake beats pre-pandemic pricing as its returns to the aircraft ABS market

US fund manager and leasing firm Castlelake has priced the first commercial aircraft ABS in the 10 months since the global onset of the Covid-19 pandemic – achieving one of the lowest yields to date for an aircraft ABS and beating pricing on its last two transactions issued in 2018 and 2019. more

20/01/2021

How is Singapore Airlines, one of the largest international carriers, managing the COVID-19 crisis?

In today’s Airline Credit Profile, Ishka reviews how Singapore Airlines Group is managing the COVID 19 crisis. more

14/01/2021

Viral Capital: Airlines tap banks for $97.2bn since onset of pandemic

Airlines have raised $97.2 billion in publicly disclosed commercial debt during the Covid-19 crisis, including $10.2 billion signed since October, according to Ishka research. more

11/12/2020

Why new aircraft ABS deals will be 'very different' in 2021

There are rumours that at least one new aircraft ABS portfolio is being assembled for a potential Q1 2021 issuance, but aircraft ABS servicers and financiers warn new aircraft ABS deals will need to "evolve" to ensure investor support in 2021. more

07/12/2020

Are we seeing more 'realism' yet from leased aircraft sellers?

Bid/ask spreads are “narrowing” on aircraft prices, say asset managers, but trading leased aircraft remains challenging. more

04/11/2020

Ishka World Tour: Institutional investor appetite ‘steadies’ for new aviation deals

Investors and fund managers speaking at the Ishka World Tour stated that investor appetite for new aviation debt is “steadying” despite the risks imposed on the sector from the Covid-19 crisis. Several investors argued that aviation retained its “relative value” appeal, offering institutional investors higher returns compared to other sectors. more

28/10/2020

Ishka World Tour: A frozen JOLCO market will take time to thaw

The aviation JOLCO market will take one to two years to return to 2019 levels, say Japanese financiers, as airlines worry that that as an avenue for aircraft financing it is effectively “closed” in 2020. more

22/10/2020

Spreads slow to renormalise on active IG lessor bonds

Spreads remain high on pre-crisis levels on all but A-rated aircraft leasing bond issuances, an Ishka analysis of 251 actively trading lessor issuances has found. more

13/10/2020

Lessor bonds Q3: Fresh issuances double on Q2

Aircraft lessors flooded back to the bond market in Q3 2020. After tepid issuances in Q2, Q3 total new issuances were the highest of the last seven quarters – and over double the previous quarter. more

09/10/2020

Viral Capital: Airlines tap banks for $33 billion over the summer

Banks may be increasingly selective as to which deals they agree to underwrite but airlines still managed to raise $33 billion of publicly disclosed commercial bank debt between June and September 2020. more

02/10/2020

Lessons in rejection: LATAM’s decision to drop its EETC aircraft

Ishka speaks to two lawyers involved in the issuance of LATAM's 2015-1 EETC to unpack the significance of its rejection. more

24/09/2020

in Airline Profiles , Capital Markets , Aircraft Finance Market

Kroll and S&P unveil aircraft ABS September downgrades

Rating agencies Kroll and S&P announced further aircraft ABS downgrades following disappointing August remittance updates by many transactions. more

23/09/2020

Rising airline debt margins attract hedge fund interest

Higher margins and better loan terms on new secured aircraft loans have attracted the attention of hedge funds seeking to offer debt to airlines directly through debt funds and private placements, state financiers. more

09/09/2020

How do Aircraft ABS structures perform if cash flows are reduced due to Covid-19?

In a guest insight Kevin MacLeod, Vedder Price’s Head of the New York Capital Markets Group, examines some of the structural protections prevalent in recent aircraft ABS transactions. more

13/08/2020

in Capital Markets , Investor Education , Market Move

Analysis: DZ Bank mulls new sales process for DVB AIM/AM

DZ Bank is understood to be exploring a new sales process for DVB AIM/AM after a planned merger with Japanese Bank MUFG stalled in the face of US banking regulatory hurdles. more

11/08/2020

Will other lessors need to adopt an ‘NAC type’ debt standstill?

Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) managed to win itself some breathing space after it successfully arranged a debt standstill with its creditors in early July. But sources warn that NAC could simply be the first of several potential aircraft lessor restructurings set to eventually hit the market. more

29/07/2020

Aircraft ABS: START III winds down portfolio, further ABS downgrades

In its monthly aircraft ABS round up, Ishka summarises some recent trends and transaction highlights. more

21/07/2020

Lessor bond issuances plummet in Q2 2020

An analysis of a sample of bonds issued by aircraft leasing companies in 2019 Q2 versus 2020 Q2 shows that lessors issued, overall, fewer bonds (by 40.8%) and of smaller amounts (by 31.7%). more

17/07/2020

Lessor bonds: Spreads stay wide as ratings agencies mull downgrade

An analysis of 236 currently trading lessor bonds show that spreads remain wide versus pre-Covid levels across maturities and ratings. more

09/07/2020

Airlines decelerate debt issuances to $7 billion in June

Carriers disclosed only $6.9 billion of fresh commercial debt in June 2020, nearly half the amount airlines accessed in the first two weeks of March alone, but roughly equal to the volume of new bonds issued in the same period last year. more

03/07/2020

Rating agencies respond to Covid-19 stress on aircraft ABS deals

Rating agencies have downgraded or placed several aircraft ABS notes on watch downgrade in the last few weeks in response to the continued pressure on securitised leased aircraft portfolios in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. more

18/06/2020

AFIC honours Norwegian claim, ECAs “busy” with airline restructuring requests

AFIC has honoured a non-payment claim, state sources while ECAs are busy with restructuring requests from airlines on legacy aircraft loans. more

31/05/2020

Viral Capital: Airlines slow down debt raising

Airlines appear to have slowed down the volume of additional debt facilities in the last few weeks after raising billions of dollars a day during March and April to help cope with the coronavirus crisis. more

19/05/2020

Viral Capital: Airlines access another $12 billion in April dash for cash

Airlines accessed a further $12 billion in publicly disclosed fresh debt and drawdowns this April as carriers worldwide fought keep afloat, with another $17 billion of debt under negotiation. more

29/04/2020

Aviation banks say new deals on pause until ‘market bottoms out’

Aviation lenders say rising costs and the pricing uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 crisis means most new secured aircraft deals for both lessors and airlines are effectively on pause. more

15/04/2020

Lessor bonds: Ratings agencies bearish on lessors, while new issuances drop

Rating agencies have become more bearish on the aircraft leasing sector with Fitch, and Moody’s changing their outlook on the sector from stable to negative. Sub-A rated investment-grade instruments, which would include most aircraft lessor bonds, have also seen record levels of capital outflows in the last few weeks. more

07/04/2020

Viral Capital: Airlines access $2 billion of additional debt a day

Airlines have raised or drawn down another $13.6 billion of debt in the past week – equal to nearly $2 billion of fresh debt a day, a figure that only includes publicly disclosed facilities. more

31/03/2020

Covid-19: Spreads widen on non-Chinese lessor bonds

An analysis of around 270 actively trading lessor bonds shows that spreads are widening for many of the notes issued by the US publicly listed lessors. more

27/03/2020

Coronavirus likely to “test” ABS servicers

Multiple airline requests for rent deferrals and the stress placed on the airline industry globally as air traffic volumes drops could place a strain on aircraft ABS servicers. more

17/03/2020

EU to add aviation investments to green taxonomy

EU bodies are looking to add aviation to its upcoming green taxonomy, which regulates what debt and public equity investments can be marketed as sustainable to European investors. more

25/02/2020

in Regulatory and Accounting , Capital Markets , Aircraft Finance Market

M&A: How Japan fell in love with aircraft leasing

Japanese firms have been courting aircraft leasing platforms with increasing fervour in recent years, investing at least $14.4 billion since 2018, according to Ishka calculations. more

13/02/2020

Carlyle prices first ABS of 2020:AASET 2020-1

Carlyle Aviation (Carlyle) has priced the first aircraft ABS of the year, AASET 2020-1. more

02/02/2020

Fund watch: Aura Group launches series of aircraft leasing funds

Aura Group has closed the first two rounds of fundraising for its debut fund, while Castellan Asset Management seeks investors and Sirius Aviation Capital bags a $100 million investment. more

16/01/2020

Ishka invites Deals of the Year Award submissions

Ishka is now accepting submissions for its Deal of the Year Awards. The Ishka Deal of the Year Awards celebrate the best closed aircraft financings of 2019. The awards will be handed out at Ishka’s Dublin conference on the 17th and 18th June 2020. more

14/01/2020

The future of aircraft ABS anchor e-note investors

Ishka examines how tradeable e notes and anchor investors have helped leasing platforms achieve a record year for commercial aircraft ABS deals. more

08/01/2020

Aircraft leasing funds raise billions of fresh equity in 2019

Investors have placed at least $5.6 billion of equity into new aircraft leasing funds in 2019, according to Ishka research. more

06/01/2020

Leased aircraft returns shrink another 50bps in 2019

Unlevered equity returns on leased aircraft have fallen by around another 50 basis points across asset types over the past year, according to a survey of asset managers conducted by Ishka. more

16/12/2019