Waypoint Leasing receives innovation award in China
Shen Lei (left) and Philip Stransky (right) signs MoU for Tianjin Free Trade Zone
Waypoint Leasing has received a structured innovation award for its new leasing platform in the Tianjin Free Trade Zone in China.
The Irish leasing company was the first helicopter lessor to establish a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in China. It opened up its leasing platform just six months after its first Chinese SPV transaction with Shanghai Skyway General Aviation – a multipurpose helicopter operator.
Philip Stransky, vice president of sales and relationship management for the Asia Pacific region accepted the award on behalf of Waypoint at the China Air Finance Development (DFTP) Summit last month in Tianjin.
Stransky said: “It is a great honour for us to accept this award. We pay sincere thanks to the team at Tianjin Free Trade Zone for their helpful advice and assistance in establishing a platform that will help develop helicopter leasing as part of the huge potential for growth in China.”
This year, the Summit focused on the Free Trade Zone of Tianjin, a strategic layout aimed at making Tianjin an industrial cluster for aircraft leasing and aviation finance for China and the world.
A spokesman for the International Shipping and Finance Promotion Centre of the Tianjin Free Trade Port Zone said: “We are glad to have Waypoint Leasing as the winner for the innovation award of the year. The Skyway deal is the very first case of a foreign lessor leasing a helicopter to a domestic China operator through an SPV in a LILO (Lease-in and Lease-out) structure. This deal has enabled the Chinese operator to introduce helicopter through operating lease, with a lower tax cost and custom tax deposit.
“Waypoint is the largest independent helicopter lessor of the world, we are very impressed by its high efficiency in providing professional and tailored service to its customers. We are also quite convinced that it will have a much more important role to play in catering to the China’s growing market.”
