Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) assigns preliminary ratings to three classes of loans issued by Castlelake Aircraft Structured Trust 2017-1.

Proceeds from the sale of the loans will be used to purchase a fleet of 43 aircraft that are initially leased to 15 lessees located in 11 countries with an initial total value of approximately $940.7 million.

This transaction represents the fourth securitization for Castlelake, L.P. Castlelake was founded in 2005 with a focus on mid-life and end-of-life aviation assets. In total, the company has over $10.0 billion in assets under management, of which more than $3.0 billion has been deployed within the aviation sector. As of March 31, 2017, Castlelake has a team of 33 individuals focused on aviation finance with an owned or managed fleet consisting of over 400 aircraft.

The transaction benefits from sufficient credit enhancement and liquidity, as well as a dynamic structure that accelerates principal payments on the Loans in the event of weak performance.

KBRA analyzed the transaction using the Aviation ABS Methodology published on October 26, 2016.

For complete details on the analysis, please see KBRA’s Presale Report, Castlelake Aircraft Structured Trust 2017-1, which was published today at www.kbra.com.

The preliminary ratings are based on information known to KBRA at the time of this publication. Information received subsequent to this release could result in the assignment of final ratings that differ from the preliminary ratings.