Hughes Hubbard Scoops Up Another Aviation ‘Deal of the Year’ Award

May 4, 2017 — For the fifth consecutive year, Hughes Hubbard served as counsel in a transaction named “Deal of the Year” by Airfinance Journal, the aviation industry’s leading publication.

HHR acted as adviser on a matter selected as 2016’s “Capital Markets Deal of the Year.” In the previous four years, the firm has been recognized for its role in 10 transactions named “Deal of the Year.”

The prestigious awards recognize “a selection of the best financings of last year by both region and financing structure.” The winners were selected by a judging panel of senior aviation finance executives, including Bertrand Grabowski (former board member and head of aircraft finance at DVB Bank), Jeff Knittel (president of CIT Transportation & International Finance) and Norm Liu (former CEO and chairman of GECAS).

The winners will be honored at an awards ceremony at the New York Marriot Marquis on May 17.  

In the transaction, Hughes Hubbard advised aircraft lessor Blackbird Capital I in an $800 million aircraft lease securitization. The transaction, which closed in November, set a new benchmark for post-financial crisis aircraft ABS issuances, including the first AA tranche of rated securities, the lowest blended cost of funds through BBB class, the largest number of investors to place bids, the largest number of investors to get allocated bonds and the shortest period to execute a transaction in only six weeks.

Blackbird Capital is a joint venture between Air Lease Corporation and asset management company Napier Park Global Capital. HHR assisted in the formation and financing of the joint venture in 2014.

Steve Chung led the HHR team, which included Andy Braiterman, Katie Coleman, Melissa Duffy, Andrew Fowler, Chris Kiplok, Gary Simon, Chris Fickes, Jim Delaney, Benjamin Britz, Alan Kashdan, Jenny Graham, Jason Kaplan, AJ Macdonald, Andrew Park, Helen Zhu, Erik Chamberlin, Justin Cohen, Emily Nordin, Walter Song, Juli Thorstenn, Erin Diers, Ileana Loudarou and Erica Aghedo.