ICBC provides a revolving credit facility to Norwegian Air Shuttle to finance pre-delivery payments for five Boeing 737-800 aircraft

Project narrative

On July 27, 2016, financial close was reached on a deal in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) entered into a revolving credit facility (RCF) agreement denominated in U.S. dollars with Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA — a Norwegian low-cost airline listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange — to finance pre-delivery payments (PDPs) for five Boeing 737-800 aircraft. This loan carried a maturity period of one year and seven months (1.583 years) (with individual portions due when each aircraft was delivered), a final maturity date of February 28, 2018, and an interest rate of 3-month LIBOR plus a margin of 2%. This loan was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) the purchase contracts with the aircraft manufacturer Boeing for the five aircraft, assigned to ICBC and charged by Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA. Norwegian Air Shuttle provided a corporate guarantee. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to cover pre-delivery financing for Boeing aircraft to be delivered in 2016 and 2017; the borrower intended to replace the short-term financing with long-term financing when the aircraft were delivered, specifically with a sale-and-leaseback agreement with ICBC Financial Leasing Co., Ltd..