Waypoint Leasing (“Waypoint”), the largest independent global helicopter leasing company, announced that it has closed on the private placement of US$200 million of senior secured notes, representing Waypoint’s inaugural capital markets financing. The senior secured notes have a maturity of seven years, split across three tranches, providing for both USD and EUR funding capacity on a delayed draw basis. The company will use the proceeds to fund the continued expansion of the business and to free up further capacity under its secured revolving credit facility.

“This transaction further diversifies our capital access, adds longer term financing to our debt maturity profile and represents a further reduction in our cost of capital, a benefit we bring to our helicopter operators. Through great execution, we were able to close this transaction on very attractive terms for Waypoint.”

The Notes were offered to a select group of leading institutional investors from top life insurance and pension companies. Goldman Sachs & Co. and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. served as Joint Placement Agents; Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA), Inc. served as Senior Co-Placement Agent; and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., BNP Paribas Securities Corp. and RBC Capital Markets, LLC served as Co-Placement Agents.

Ed Washecka, CEO of Waypoint, said, “Waypoint has now achieved the scale and the related credit rating to support the very attractive execution of our first capital markets transaction, a landmark financing for the business. Through this transaction and with the support of our placement agents, we are delighted to add marquee institutional investors to our already well-established lender base.”

Alan Jenkins, CFO of Waypoint, added, “This transaction further diversifies our capital access, adds longer term financing to our debt maturity profile and represents a further reduction in our cost of capital, a benefit we bring to our helicopter operators. Through great execution, we were able to close this transaction on very attractive terms for Waypoint.”

This financing brings Waypoint’s total debt commitments to more than $1.3 billion and, together with its previously announced equity commitments, its total financing to over $1.75 billion. Waypoint’s acquired fleet includes 108 aircraft operating in 25 countries, with total assets of $1.3 billion.