Phoenix American Financial Services and PAFS Ireland, Ltd. Announce Strong Growth and Expanded Service Offering for 2021

Phoenix American Financial Services and its subsidiary PAFS Ireland, Ltd. (together “Phoenix American”), announces robust growth and business line development for 2021. The company continues to be the leading provider of its services to the aviation asset-backed securitization (ABS) industry for commercial aircraft leasing with an expanding service offering to additional structured finance vehicles.

Managing Agent Services for Aviation ABS

In January, Phoenix American was appointed as Managing Agent to CLAS 2021-1, which was the first aviation ABS deal to come to market since the pandemic shutdown of March 2020. Following that, Phoenix American was also appointed as Managing Agent to the MAPS 2021-1, CLAS 2017-1R, SALT 2021-1 and SOLRR 2021-1 deals. The SALT 2021-1 transaction is the first asset-backed securitization comprised entirely of aviation loans.

“We were delighted to see the aviation ABS market rebound with such conviction in 2021 and honored that Phoenix American was entrusted to serve as the Managing Agent on many new transactions including a brand new product line in the SALT 2021-1 transaction,” said Joseph Horgan, Senior Vice President at Phoenix American. “We look forward to an equally robust 2022.”

Phoenix American was also appointed Corporate Services Provider for a number of leasing platforms, warehouses and other financial structures sponsored by major aircraft leasing companies.  With the onboarding of these new clients in 2021, Phoenix American now provides Managing Agent services for ABS transactions, leasing platforms and other structured finance vehicles representing over 1800 aircraft with an initial appraised valuation of over $41 billion. Accordingly, the PAFS Ireland office in Shannon, Ireland has grown by over 15% in 2021 and is now staffed by over 60 professionals.

“Expanding our team in Ireland to support our strong flow of new business has been very gratifying,” said John McInerney, Managing Director at PAFS Ireland. “Our continued investment in exceptional people ensures high-quality outputs for our clients.”

Over the course of 2021, the company launched a new Aviation Fund Accounting offering and PAFS Ireland rebranded its corporate image to include a new redesigned website at www.pafsi.com and a new rebranded LinkedIn presence.

Industry Thought Leadership

In September, Phoenix American published the white paper 2021 Trend Report for the Aviation Asset-Backed Securitization Industry: A Portrait of Resilience, Stability, and Future Growth. The paper examines the history of the aviation ABS industry, the series of seminal world events that drove its evolution and the dramatic re-emergence of the structure in 2021 following the initial economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The paper includes extensive perspective contributed by a number of industry leaders.

Phoenix American engages with the international aviation industry throughout the year at various conferences in the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Phoenix American was delighted to moderate panel discussions on aviation ABS issues at the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers conferences in London in September and in New York in October. The company looks forward to similar participation in 2022.