Dublin, Ireland – 31^st October 2019 – Stellwagen Group, a specialized aviation asset manager, today announced the closing of its inaugural aviation ABS co-investment vehicle, ‘Raptor Aircraft Finance I Limited, 2019-1’ which offered $726 million of rated notes secured by a portfolio of 19 aircraft on lease to 14 airlines located in 12 countries. The company acted as Structurer in the formation of Raptor and sourced $193 million of third-party institutional equity co-investors for this new issuer. Stellwagen, through its Capital Management division (Stellwagen Capital), will act as the ongoing Administrator to Raptor and, through its Aviation Services division (Seraph Aviation), will act as the ongoing Servicer for the aircraft.

The portfolio – which consists of 16 narrow-body aircraft (67% by value) and 3 wide-body aircraft (33% by value) – has a weighted average age of approximately 3.7 years, making it one of the youngest portfolios ever offered in the ABS capital markets, and a long weighted average remaining lease term of approximately 7.0 years.

Group CEO of Stellwagen David Butler said: “Raptor I is one of the largest ABS transactions issued this year, in a market environment where investors have the luxury of choice. The execution of Raptor represents a major milestone for Stellwagen, and we are pleased with the overwhelming support from our institutional partners on the execution of this transaction and for the capital markets’ endorsement of Stellwagen’s undertaking as the long-term asset manager.”

Stellwagen Capital CEO Scott Corman added “Raptor was a large, highly-complex transaction, which Stellwagen was uniquely capable of executing due to its broad product and industry expertise. With one of the youngest and most attractive portfolios available to investors, Raptor has differentiated Stellwagen from other ABS issuers. Raptor I presented investors with a unique opportunity to participate alongside a proven asset manager with a successful track record.”