Eclipse Aircraft will sell $415.5 million in asset-backed securities (ABS) to investors, secured by a collection of leases on 23 passenger aircraft from 16 lessees in 15 countries.
Just two tranches of notes—classes A and B—will be sold to investors from the transaction, issued jointly by Eclipse Aircraft 2026-1 Ltd, or Eclipse Ireland, and Eclipse Aircraft 2026-1, LLC, and all the notes have a legal final maturity of May 15, 2051, according to analysts at Fitch Ratings.
The former will issue the bulk of the notes from the deal, $360.7 million, according to the rating agency.
SMBC Aviation Capital will service the leases and manage the aircraft, according to the rating agency, while Sculptor Capital will act as asset manager for Eclipse and the E noteholder.
Fitch points to several deal strengths. For one, the underlying asset pool is strong, and heavily concentrated in narrowbody aircraft models, mostly A320-200s, with large, in-service fleets and broad operator bases. That describes 62.8% of the pool, the rating agency said.
The 737-800s account for 25.2% of the pool, and A321-200s account for 12.0%, according to Fitch.
As for the companies leasing the aircraft, 17.6% of the pool, by MABV, is leased to investment-grade companies. Outside of investment-grade lessees, those at ratings levels of 'BB', 'B' and 'CCC' to 'C' account for 26.2%, 25.1%, and 31.1% of the pool, respectively, Fitch said.
