Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) is delighted to announce that two deals the firm advised on won at Iskha’s Deal of the Year Awards 2024. The awards highlight the best aviation financing and M&A transactions of 2024 for airlines, lessors and investors.
The two award-winning deals were:
- Best Asian Deal of the Year 2024: Air India’s GIFT City A320neo financing; and
- Best Asian M&A Deal of the Year 2024: Air India/Vistara merger.
On the first deal, WFW advised Standard Chartered on the financing of two A320neo aircraft for TATA SIA Airlines Limited, operating as Vistara, utilising a unique structuring through Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (“GIFT City”) using an entity which was not a wholly owned subsidiary of the airline. This landmark transaction was one of the first commercial aircraft finance transactions to be structured through GIFT City, and the first using this unique structure. GIFT City has begun to play a large role in financing India’s unprecedented growth in aviation. The WFW Singapore Aviation & Aerospace team that advised Standard Chartered was led by Partner Richard Williams.
For the second deal, WFW advised multiple parties on the historic merger of Tata SIA Airlines Limited/Vistara with Air India, creating a unified full-service airline under the Air India brand. This follows the merger of Air India Group’s low-cost airlines Air India Express and AIX Connect earlier in 2024. The combined entity is now the largest international carrier with more than 90 destinations worldwide and the second largest domestic carrier with an estimated 29% market share. The Indian aviation market is the third largest in the world and is one of the fastest growing. The cross-border WFW Aviation & Aerospace team was led by London Partner Randeep Bubbra and Singapore Partner Richard Williams.
Global Aviation & Aerospace Sector Head Jim Bell commented: “I am delighted to see our aviation sector recognised with these award wins, especially as both relate to the booming Indian market as well as covering both corporate and financing expertise. In Randeep and Richard, we have two dynamic young partners with strong ties to key industry players in this fast-expanding market, making WFW ideally placed to take advantage of India’s rapid rise as a key global aviation hub. Congratulations to them and all their teams for this well-deserved awards recognition for all their hard work on these transformative deals”.
