GOL Issues $41 Million Ex-Im Bank-Guaranteed Bond for Services Exported by Delta TechOps, MRO Division of Delta Air Lines
March 25, 2014
(Ex-Im Bank)
Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed financing supports an estimated 400 jobs at Delta TechOps
Washington, D.C. – The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank)
today announced the successful issuance of an Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed bond funded
by the capital markets that raised $40.7 million for the Brazilian airline, VRG
Linhas Aéreas S.A. (GOL), for engine-maintenance services performed by Delta
TechOps in Atlanta, Ga. Delta TechOps is the maintenance, repair and overhaul
(MRO) division of Delta Air Lines Inc.
The Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed bond was issued in mid-February to raise the funds to
reimburse GOL for costs related to engine-maintenance services performed by
Delta TechOps in 2013. The two-year bond bears interest at a fixed rate of 0.622
percent.
GOL issued the bond under a $45.5 million guarantee authorized by Ex-Im Bank in
May 2013 to support Delta TechOps exports to the Brazilian airline. The
financing is supporting an estimated 400 jobs at Delta TechOps, according to
Ex-Im Bank's jobs-calculation methodology.
"With this transaction, Ex-Im Bank continues to support hundreds of
highly-skilled jobs of Delta TechOps in Atlanta," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and
President Fred P. Hochberg. "Our guarantee made possible the capital-markets
funding of these services under Delta TechOps's multiyear contract with GOL, a
longtime Ex-Im Bank customer in Latin America."
"Delta TechOps, a division of Delta Air Lines, is performing essential
aircraft-engine maintenance and overhaul services for our existing fleet," said
Paulo Kakinoff, chief executive officer of GOL. "The availability of Ex-Im
Bank's financing was the key to our choosing this U.S. provider for these
services and is strengthening the partnership between our two companies."
The February 2014 issuance was the third successful Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed bond
issuance to finance engine-maintenance services. The previous two issuances,
which also supported Delta TechOps's services to GOL, were done in 2012 under an
$84.8 million Ex-Im Bank commitment approved the same year. The transaction
earned Ex-Im Bank an Airfinance Journal "Deal of the Year" award in April 2013.
The financing covered the first two years of GOL's five-year engine-maintenance
contract with Delta TechOps that was signed in December 2010.
In accordance with the contract, Delta TechOps is performing heavy maintenance
on GOL's CFM56-7B engines that are installed on the airline's Boeing 737 next
generation aircraft fleet. Delta TechOps is providing GOL with up to 253
scheduled engine removals and additional unscheduled removals. The GOL engines
are shipped from São Paulo, Brazil, to Atlanta for heavy maintenance performed
by Delta TechOps.
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