CDB Aviation Closes $700 Million Loan Aircraft Portfolio Financing

CDB Aviation, a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (“CDB Leasing”), announced today that the lessor entered into a US$700 million facility agreement secured with a portfolio of Airbus and Boeing narrowbody and widebody aircraft on lease to various of the lessor’s airline customers.

The facility is financed by a group of leading MLA banks, including Natixis, CACIB, BNP Paribas, the Korean Development Bank, the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. Hong Kong Branch, Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. (acting through its offshore banking unit), CaixaBank, S.A., and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited.

Natixis, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (“CACIB”), and BNP Paribas acted as Coordinators and Sustainability Structuring Advisors. CACIB also acted as the Facility Agent, Security Trustee, and Sustainability Agent.

“This facility marks a significant achievement in our platform’s fundraising journey that was only possible because of the strong support from everyone involved, building on our platform’s robust ability to engage global financial institutions, the strong competencies and efforts of our entire team, and the unwavering support of our shareholder,” commented Jie Chen, CDB Aviation’s Chief Executive Officer.

Structured as a Sustainability Linked Loan (“SLL”), the seven-year facility is considered the industry’s first SLL-based aircraft portfolio financing executed by an aircraft lessor globally. Moody’s Investors assigned a best-in-class SQS2 rating, confirming the facility’s conformity with the Sustainability Linked Loan Principles (“SLLPs”).

“I would like to thank our Capital Markets team for their extraordinary efforts in raising a record volume of funds from the capital markets and involving the largest number of bank participants, making CDB Aviation a very active player in this market. I also want to acknowledge the Legal team who continue to provide their critical support in our funding activities and express our gratitude to the airline customers for their crucial engagement,” concluded Chen.