ING has closed a US$403mn aircraft financing for Korean Air to fund the purchase of three aircraft from Boeing.

This is ING’s first US Exim transaction for Korean Air and in Asia. US Exim Bank is providing a 12-year loan guarantee for 85% of the net purchase price. Korea Development Bank provided additional financing with a five-year loan for 10% of the net purchase price. Korean Air is the world’s 19th biggest international scheduled passenger carrier and the second largest commercial airline cargo carrier. It is also the largest trans-Pacific carrier of goods and operates the largest freighter fleet of any passenger airline in the world.

The latest transaction arranged by ING is one of the many it has arranged for aircraft financing this year. In April ING Structure Finance arranged a $32.8 million financing for Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE), which is a frequent borrower in the loan markets. SALE is on another visit to the loan markets with a $105 million 12-year deal paying a spread of 85bp over Libor. Arab Bank, DBS and Standard Chartered are arrangers to the transaction that closed last week. s