Waypoint Leasing confident it will be sold

news

by Alasdair Whyte

27 November 2018

Waypoint files for Chapter 11

Waypoint Leasing, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday, has said that it could be sold quickly.

In a court filing the lessor said: “The Debtors expect to agree on terms with a bidder and file a motion for approval of the sale shortly.”

The sale process is being led by investment bank Houlihan Lokey, with law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges, FTI Consulting and Seabury Consulting also involved.

Houihan Lokey contacted more than 200 buyers in the first round and received 14 letters of intent. Nine companies moved on to the second round with six making bids.

Five of these bids were for most of the company. One bid was for about 100 aircraft.

Waypoint says that it had hoped to sell without entering Chapter 11.

Some of the lessor’s original lenders are expected to provide debtor-in-possession financing.

MSD Capital (the family office of Michael Dell), Quantum Strategic Partners (a fund run by George Soros) and Cartesian Capital invested $375 million in Waypoint in April 2013. In October 2018, Waypoint valued its assets at $1.62 billion and its liabilities at $1.23 billion.

Waypoint’s shareholders had hoped to sell the company to a Chinese financial institution in November 2016 at a premium. But the deal failed.