Bank of America Canada Arranges Air Transat's Synthetic Lease Financing

Air Transat AT Inc. took delivery of the second of three Airbus A310-308 aircraft on March 26, 2001 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, pursuant to a synthetic lease financing structured and arranged by Bank of America in Canada. Bank of America and Air Transat completed the synthetic lease financing for the aircraft with a total facility of approximately US$75 million on December 22, 2000. Air Transat currently operates a fleet of 23 aircraft with a mix of five different types of aircraft. The aircraft that are the subject of the synthetic lease financing are part of Air Transat’s fleet renewal process.

Air Transat was represented by its in-house counsel, Lynda Gautreau, and by a team of lawyers from Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP led from the Montreal office by Xeno Martis (banking/corporate finance), David Lemieux (banking/corporate finance) and Alain Ranger (tax) with the assistance of John Abraham and Eric Belli-Bivar (banking/corporate finance) of the Toronto office and Scott Perrin (banking/corporate finance) of the Vancouver office. Bank of America and the syndicate of lenders were represented by a team of lawyers from McMillan Binch led by Michael Templeton (tax), Peter Willis, and Tracey Lazareth (corporate/financial services) with the assistance of Tim Baron, Andrew McFarlane, and Stephanie Robinson. James Fisher and Louise Joseph of Legault Joly Thiffault acted as special counsel in Quebec to Bank of America and the syndicate of lenders.