Avolon Expands Middle East and Asian Customer Base and Sees Significant Long Term Opportunities within the Region

DUBLIN & HONG KONG - Wednesday, June 15th 2011 [ME NewsWire]

26 aircraft leased to nine airlines in Middle East and Asia-Pacific

US$3 billion capital raised at 1st Anniversary

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Avolon www.avolon.aero, the aircraft leasing group, announces the significant growth of its business interests in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions, with the leasing of 26 aircraft to nine leading carriers. It has re-affirmed its positive outlook for the industry within the region and its expected business expansion in the near term.

Highlights

26 aircraft leased to nine airlines including carriers in Australia, China, India, Japan, The Philippines and United Arab Emirates.
12 Airbus A320 and 14 Boeing 737-800 aircraft leased to Middle East and Asian carriers:
One Airbus A320 Air Arabia – United Arab Emirates
Eight Airbus A320s Indigo – India
Two Airbus A320s Philippine Airlines – The Philippines
One Airbus A320 Spring Airlines – China
Five Boeing 737-800s Flydubai – United Arab Emirates
Four Boeing 737-800s Japan Airlines - Japan
One Boeing 737-800 Skymark - Japan
One Boeing 737-800 SpiceJet -India
Three Boeing 737-800s Virgin Australia - Australia
Average age of Avolon’s current delivered fleet is 1.8 years
Avolon fleet currently stands at over 80 committed aircraft, valued at c. US$ 4.0 billion
US$3.0 billion capital raised including US$1.1 billion of equity and US$1.9 billion of debt

John Higgins, Avolon President and Chief Commercial Officer, commented:

“Both Asia-Pacific and the Middle East are important markets for us and establishing ourselves as a leading lessor in these regions is one of our core business objectives. We have already made solid progress in developing our portfolio in the region and with in excess of 40% of future aircraft orders destined for this region, it remains a key focus for our team. We see significant opportunity to maintain strong growth in our fleet as we move from our existing committed portfolio to a fleet value of in excess of US$6 billion by 2014.”

“We have established offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai under the leadership of Simon Hanson, Head of Asia-Pacific for Avolon. We expect to open a further office in either the Middle East or the Asia-Pacific region in the next 12 months to build on the success we have had in supporting and partnering with leading carriers in these regions.”

Avolon Factsheet

Total capital of US$3 billion raised since May 2010 comprising US$1.1 billion of equity and US$1.9 billion of debt
Equity raising of US$1.1 billion - investors include three of the world’s leading private equity firms: Cinven, CVC Capital Partners and Oak Hill Capital Partners
Debt finance of over US$1.9 billion from a range of eleven US and European banks, including:
US$400 million warehouse facility closed in May 2010 which was the first facility of this type to be successfully executed in three years
Term finance of US$465m from a consortium of leading US banks led by Wells Fargo Securities and including Citi and Morgan Stanley
Appointment of over 28 professionals in offices in Dublin, Hong Kong & Shanghai and Stamford, CT, USA
Completion of an initial order for 12 737-800 NG aircraft from Boeing
Completion of an initial order for 8 A320 aircraft from Airbus
Completion of sale and leaseback and portfolio transactions on over 60 aircraft
Avolon’s customers include 21 airlines in 16 countries

Contacts

Avolon

Jonathan Neilan/Harriet Mansergh

+353-1-6633686

jonathan.neilan@fd.com/harriet.mansergh@fd.com