Ashland Place Finance, a specialty commercial aviation finance firm, is selling $324.3 million in asset-backed securities, its inaugural deal.
A static pool of loan facilities on 26 aircraft—19 narrowbody and three widebody aircraft, and four narrowbody host aircraft engines—will secure notes from the APL Finance 2023-1, according to a statement from Ashland Place. All of the loans are primary origination, sole lender and fully secured, the company said.
The deal is a welcome sight after a period of relative scarcity for aircraft lease ABS. At least $1.2 billion in aircraft related securitizations were completed in 2023, but even those were embedded in equipment lease deals, according to the Asset Securitization Report's deal database.
Atlas SP Partners was the sole structuring agent on the deal, the company said, which issued four classes of notes. Kroll Bond Rating Agency issued 'AA' to the class A notes; 'A-' class B notes; 'BBB-' to the class C notes and 'BB-' to the class D notes.
It is the first securitization for the company, and represents only a subset of the types of loans that the company has originated, executive director and group head Jennifer Villa says.
"Looking to the future, we intend to be a perennial issuer in the aviation ABS market," Villa said.
The deal closed on December 15, according to Ashland.
