The agreement was for the acquisition of the 24th of 29 Airbus A330-200s — powered by Rolls – Royce Trent engines — which the carrier has on firm order. The aircraft will be delivered to the airline on 13th September.
The aircraft financing is structured as a 10-year International Operating Lease (INTOL) with Lloyds TSB Bank. The INTOL structure was arranged by Babcock and Brown, with equity provided by Lloyds TSB Bank. The lead debt arranger was Credit Agricole Indosuez and other leading banks involved were National Bank of Dubai, Mashreq Bank, Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale and Standard Chartered Bank.
The debt portion was financed on a floating rate basis at an average margin of 0.80% over 6-month LIBOR (London Inter Bank Offered Rate).
Riyaz Peermohamed, Emirates` Corporate Treasurer, said: We are one of the fastest growing and most successful airlines in the world — and creative cost management is one of the key challenges as we grow bigger. For this deal, Lloyds TSB Bank used its solid UK presence to create a low – cost funding structure for Emirates. We are very pleased to be involved in this financing with Lloyds TSB Bank, one of the largest financial institution in the UK, and Credit Agricole Indosuez, one of the largest players in the aircraft financing world and a long-term supporter of Emirates.
At last year`s Dubai Air Show, the airline unveiled a stunning US$15 billion fleet expansion plan, ordering 22 Airbus A380s — 25 Boeing 777s, eight A340-600s and three A330s — a total of 58 aircraft which will boost its fleet to 100 by 2010.
Seen here at the signing ceremony for the new Airbus are: Seated, Dermot Mannion (center), Emirates` Chief Director Finance, IT & Services, with Anne-Marie Siffroy Pytlak (left), First Vice President of Credit Agricole Indosuez, and Owen Harringrton, Head of Structured finance, Lloyds TSB Bank.
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