EETCs Priced Amid Market Uncertainty

EETCs have always been an attractive form of financing for U.S carriers, both before and after the crisis but international carries are increasingly looking at this option to financing new aircraft deliveries.

Last week British Airways issued its debut EETC. The originator was offering a $927 million, two-tranche issue that will finance six new A320s, two 777-300ERs and six 787-8s.

Citigroup is the lead bookrunner and is joined by HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley.

The deal was assigned preliminary ratings by Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service. The $721.6 million senior tranche Class A certificates, with an expected maturity of June 2024, were rated 'A' by Fitch and ‘Baa1’ by Moody’s.  The $207.0 million Class B certificates, with an expected maturity of June 2020, were rated 'BBB’ by Fitch and ‘Ba1’ by Moody’s.

The class A notes priced at a coupon rate of 4.625% and the class B notes priced at a rate of 5.625%, according to a Deutsche Bank report.

It was Doric’s second time in the market.  The Series 2013-1 sold two tranches a two totaling $630 million to finance four new A380-800 aircraft for lease to Emirates.

The certificates were rated by Moody’s. The $462 million A certificates, with an expected final maturity of June 30, 2023, were rated ‘A3’ (stable). The $168 million B certificates, with an expected final maturity of November 20, 2019, were rated ‘Baa3’ (stable).

The A- tranche of Doric was priced at a coupon rate 5.25% and the B-tranche was priced at a coupon rate of 6.125%  

The issuer first tapped the debt capital markets in  June 2012, becoming the first international EETC deal to be filed under a bankruptcy provision similar to Section 1110 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which allows creditors to have full collateral rights and special treatment under the U.S. bankruptcy code that would allow them to quickly recover collateral if necessary.