AIG’s Aircraft Leasing Unit in Market with Benchmark Bond Offering

American International Group Inc.'s aircraft leasing unit, International Lease Finance Corp (ILFC), is in the market with a benchmark-sized offering of senior unsecured 10-year notes.

Source: Source: WSJ | Published on December 3, 2010

According to a person familiar with the deal, price guidance suggests the notes will yield in the area of 8.5%.

The notes will carry expected ratings of B1 from Moody's Investors Service and BB+ from Standard & Poor's. Joint bookrunners for the offering are Barclays, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and UBS. Proceeds from the offering will be used for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of existing debt.

In August, ILFC sold a $4.4 billion multipart offering, divided among the high-yield and investment-grade syndicate desks at the underwriting banks.

Earlier this week, parent company AIG returned to the bond market for the first time since its September 2008 bailout, selling $2 billion in new three- and 10-year notes to demonstrate it can raise money from sources other than the U.S. government. AIG said it planned to use proceeds from that unsecured bond sale for general corporate purposes.