New York, June 30, 2021 – Mizuho Americas today announced it received three aviation finance awards from Airline Economics magazine and Airfinance Journal, in recognition of Mizuho’s role on market-leading transactions in 2020.
Airline Economics, a publication dedicated to the commercial aviation finance and leasing industry, recognized Mizuho as part of its 2021 Aviation 100 Global Leaders Awards:
Asia-Pacific Supported Finance Deal of the Year for Aviation Capital Group’s (ACG) $500 million, three-year loan with Mizuho Bank, which was supported by an Overseas Untied Loan Insurance policy from Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), the official export credit agency of Japan. Tokyo Century Corporation (TCL) helped arrange, lead, and support the transaction, representing a true cross-border collaboration between teams from NEXI, TCL, ACG and Mizuho in Japan and in the US. This financing is the first-ever NEXI facility provided to an aviation leasing company and is the first ever NEXI facility provided to any pure-play leasing company.
“While NEXI has a great deal of experience with these types of facilities, the approval, execution and documentation had to be managed through the cloud of pandemic-related challenges that materially impacted the global aviation sector,” said Andrew Waddington, Managing Director in Mizuho’s Industrials & Diversified Industries Banking Group. “Managing risks in a shifting environment, we were able to help lead NEXI in its decision to support its first transaction for an aircraft leasing company.”
The transaction received full approvals in December 2020 and was funded on December 24 just in time for Christmas and ACG’s financial year end.
Separately, Airfinance Journal, a leading financial publication in the global aircraft and aviation business, recognized Mizuho for its involvement in two 2020 transactions:
Lessor Unsecured Bond Deal of the Year for Aercap’s $1.5 billion bond issuance in June 2020. Mizuho was an Active Bookrunner on the transaction, which was the first lessor deal to come to market during the pandemic and effectively served to re-open the market for others.
Overall Capital Markets Deal of the Year for Avolon Holding’s $620 million SAPA 2020-1 ABS fixed rate notes and equity certificates issuance in February 2020. Mizuho served as the Lead Left Structuring Agent for the equity sale and associated debt financing, and the deal represented the lowest debt yield of any aircraft ABS issuance in the past decade.
Vinodh Srinivasan, Co-Head of The Structured Credit Group commented on SAPA, “Despite increasingly difficult market conditions in the very early days of the COVID-19 threat, we were able to achieve a great price for Avolon on what was to be the last ABS portfolio sale executed in 2020, and indeed year to date 2021.”
“Collectively these transactions are representative of Mizuho’s continued strength in the lessor financing space and our perseverance against a challenging macroeconomic backdrop” said Waddington. “I am proud of our work on these innovative and market-making deals, and to be recognized by both Airline Economics and Airfinance Journal.”
The Aviation 100 awards celebrate outstanding companies, individuals, and transactions across the aviation finance and leasing sector. Similarly, the Airfinance Journal awards recognize market-leading deals and are evaluated for their innovation, timing, size, complexity, ability to overcome obstacles, and whether the transactions set new industry benchmarks.
About Mizuho Americas
Mizuho Americas is a leading provider of a broad range of financial services, including corporate and investment banking, lending, custody, treasury services, research and capital markets solutions. With professionals across the U.S., Canada, and Latin and South America, Mizuho Americas supports corporate clients, institutional investors, and public sector organizations by connecting local markets to a vast global network. To learn more about Mizuho Americas' business, values, and ethical commitments, and the entities it comprises, visit to www.mizuhogroup.com/americas.
Mizuho Americas is an integral part of the Japan-based Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: MFG). Mizuho Financial Group is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, offering comprehensive financial and strategic services through its subsidiaries. The group has approximately 900 offices and 60,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries throughout the Americas, EMEA, and Asia. As of December 31, 2020, its total assets were $2.1 trillion. Learn more about Mizuho Financial Group at www.mizuhogroup.com.
For inquiries, please contact:
Jim Gorman
Director, Media Relations, Mizuho Americas
+1-212-282-3867
[email protected]
Laura London
Vice President, Media Relations, Mizuho Americas
+1- 212-282-4446
[email protected]