Dubai-based Emirates airline announced recently the successful pricing of its inaugural US bond offering guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States related to a loan facility secured for three new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The transaction is in the amount of $413.7 million with a fixed rate coupon of 3.465 percent per annum. The secured notes are due Aug. 21, 2021 and are payable in installments of principal and interest on a quarterly basis. “This transaction is very important for the industry as it represents the first offering of its kind directly into the global public capital markets. We believe bond markets represent an important source of capital for the airline industry in general and for Emirates in particular,” said Brian Jeffery, senior vice president, Corporate Treasury at Emirates. “Emirates is constantly in search of innovative structures and alternative sources of financing for our aircraft acquisition program and this structure will go a long way in bridging the funding gap which is evidently present in these difficult market conditions. We are very pleased to be the first airline to complete this innovative product and we would like to pay special tribute to the long-term vision of Ex-Im Bank and to the structuring and execution expertise of our arrangers Calyon and Goldman Sachs. This could not have come at a better time for the airline industry.” Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Calyon Securites acted as joint bookrunners and joint structuring agents. Clifford Chance represented Emirates as issuer's counsel and Milbank, Tweed , Hadley & McCloy LLP acted as underwriters' counsel. Vedder Price PC acted as counsel for Ex-Im Bank. Emirates airline operates over 1,000 flights per week from its base in Dubai International Airport to over 100 destinations in 61 countries across six continents with 138 wide-bodied Airbus and Boeing aircraft and another 154 aircraft on order. The airline has financing in place for its aircraft deliveries up till summer 2010.
