Aviation

DVB and Deucalion Capital VII Limited, acting as Global Lease Arranger and Investor, closed a milestone transaction in November 2007 for the purchase of eight new Boeing 777 Freighter Cargo aircraft to be delivered in 2009 and 2010. Those aircraft will be long-term leased to AeroLogic, a joint venture airline created by Lufthansa Cargo AG and Deutsche Post AG.

This is the largest transaction ever arranged by DVB. Based on Boeing's escalated list prices, the aircraft are valued at approximately US$2 billion.

In this extremely competitive bid, DVB proposed a highly innovative structure that was ultimately retained by the two prestigious JV partners. The result combines the advantage of a plain vanilla Operating Lease with unique added benefits regarding the choice of currency on some of the leases, operational flexibility of the aircraft, and even profit participation features in case tax efficient structures were added. In addition, DVB arranged the pre-delivery financing of the aircraft which are still under construction at Boeing.

Overall, the JV partners benefit from a complete 'turnkey' solution, allowing them the appropriate accounting treatment and 100 per cent financing, pre- and post-delivery.

This highly structured transaction tremendously enhanced DVB's and Deucalion's reputation in the aviation market, strengthening relationships with two of Europe’s leading aircargo specialists as well as a leading aircraft manufacturer.