Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA has mandated ING on a USD 550 million financing facility. The facility covers term financing for 11 Boeing 737-800 HGW which are scheduled for delivery between summer 2011 and end of 2012 and pre-delivery financing for aircraft delivering during the same period.
The pre-delivery financing will be utilized by Norwegian to finance/refinance a portion of the scheduled pre-delivery payments due to Boeing, and will be taken out by a long-term financing to be supported by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank)
ING is the sole lender on the pre-delivery financing, which closed on June 7th, and is arranging the Ex-Im Bank guaranteed take-out financing for all 11 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The first tranche of the Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed financing covering aircraft delivering in 2011 was closed with TD Bank, and a commitment for the Ex-Im Bank-guaranteed financing for the remaining aircraft delivering in 2012 is expected to be finalized with another lender by the end of July 2011.