16th August 2019 – Arena Aviation Capital is pleased to announce that the company successfully arranged and closed on a sale-leaseback of 4 B737-800 aircraft with Royal Air Maroc and 1 new B777-300ER aircraft with All Nippon Airways for its investor client.
“We are pleased that we have been able to increase our direct airline sale-leaseback activities. It is a sign that our platform is maturing and that our airline marketing activities are paying off. We definitely intend to keep growing our presence in the sale-leaseback market” said Erik Dahmen, Chief Commercial Officer and Founding Partner.
Arena continues on its trajectory of continued stable growth of its managed portfolio. In addition, the company has expanded its investor base, successfully sourcing and managing deals for multiple other investor clients as well as for the Japanese Operating Lease market.
Earlier this year Arena signed a Memorandum of Understanding with KEB Hana Bank of Korea. Under this strategic partnership, KEB Hana Bank will take a minority stake in Arena and Arena will support increasing KEB Hana Bank’s footprint in the aircraft financing markets. Recently Arena closed on the acquisition of a B777-300ER aircraft on lease to Air Canada for the Japanese Operating Lease market where the funding is provided by KEB Hana Bank.
“We are delighted with the strategic partnership with KEB Hana bank which already allowed us to structure transactions for the Korean market that we would otherwise not be able to do. We have closed several transactions with KEB Hana Bank as senior debt provider already and are confident and enthusiastic about the future prospects of our cooperation” said Patrick den Elzen, CEO and Founding Partner.
The KEB Hana Bank, domiciled in Seoul, Korea, originated from the merger of Hana Bank with Korea Exchange Bank. The Hana Financial Group, the parent company of Hana Bank, took over Korea Exchange Bank in February 2012 and two banks merged as of September 1, 2015. With the merger, all assets of the new bank reached 299 trillion won or 255 billion of dollars and thus holds the leading position among the commercial banks in South Korea. KEB Hana Bank consists of a network of 134 foreign branches in 24 countries, mainly in Europe, the Middle-East, the Americas, and in particular in the Asia-Pacific region.
Arena Aviation Capital is a full-service aircraft investment management company focusing on the complete life cycle of acquiring and leasing used commercial aviation assets, servicing investment and airline customers worldwide and providing services including the origination, financing, risk management, and administration (finance/accounting and legal) of commercial aviation assets. Arena also provides pre-packaged tailor-made solutions for airline customers for their mid and end-of-life assets. Arena today manages 30 aircraft leased to airlines worldwide for customers in Europe, North America and Asia.
