11 July 2017, Chengdu –Sichuan Development Holding Co., Ltd. (“SDH”), the largest state-owned enterprise in Sichuan Province, China and Standard Chartered recently established an aviation leasing venture - SDH Wings International Leasing Limited (“SDH Wings”), majority owned by SDH. The Board of Directors of SDH Wings is pleased to announce the acquisition of its first aircraft, an A321-200 on lease to Vueling Airlines S.A., a leading Spanish carrier.
“SDH owns two family airline companies - Sichuan Airlines and Chengdu Airlines - and is the second largest shareholder of Sichuan Airport Group which holds Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and initiates the construction of the Chengdu Tianfu International Airport project.” says Charles Lu, Vice President of SDH, “We are so happy to jointly establish SDH Wings with Standard Chartered. We hope that our combined strength, airlines and airport subsidiaries, will help SDH Wings not only explore China’s market, but also have a speedy take-off into the global arena.”
Established in March 2017 and headquartered in Dublin, Wings is a result of shared efforts from SDH and Pembroke Capital Limited (“Pembroke”), Standard Chartered Bank’s wholly owned aircraft leasing company. SDH Wings has signed purchase agreements with Pembroke to acquire a seed portfolio of modern aircraft with existing leases of which this A321-200 is the first. The Company aims to expand the fleet to 20 aircraft by end of this year and 65 aircraft by 2020, all of which will be managed by Pembroke as Servicer.
Industry veteran Martin Sutton, an Executive Director in Standard Chartered’s Aviation Finance team, has been seconded to SDH Wings as its General Manager during its start-up phase.
Garry Burke, Global Head of Structured Finance from Standard Chartered Bank spoke highly of this project. “Standard Chartered is very pleased to partner with Sichuan Development Holding in this new venture and see it as an opportunity to extend our presence in the fast growing aircraft leasing markets in China and worldwide.”