Asiana Airlines closes $370 million ABS deal

Asiana Airlines has raised $370 million from an asset backed securities (ABS) deal, the first Korean airline to issue US dollar-denominated ABS predominantly backed by yen-denominated air-ticket receivables. The airline has priced the five-year floating rate notes at 300bp over one-month USD Libor issued on March 15. The transaction, with a weighted average life of 2.6 years and listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, represents the securitization of passenger ticket sales mostly on Asiana’s Japan route. “This is the first five-year transaction backed by a Korean airline company’s passenger ticket sales in Japan since the first cross-border ABS of this