Milbank LLP represented the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, in connection with providing debt financing to American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL).
The debt financing is comprised of $1,000 million in initial principal amount of PIK senior secured IP notes (the “IP Notes”) and $200 million in initial principal amount of PIK senior secured notes (the “LGA/DCA Notes”). The IP Notes are secured by a first lien security interest on certain intellectual property of American, including the “American Airlines” trademark and the “aa.com” domain name in the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions, and a second lien on certain slots related to American’s operations at New York LaGuardia and Ronald Reagan Washington National airports and certain other assets (the “LGA/DCA Collateral”). The LGA/DCA Notes are secured by a first lien security interest in the LGA/DCA Collateral.
Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, American Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world with an average of nearly 6,700 flights daily to 350 destinations in 50 countries. American Eagle, a regional partner of American Airlines, is comprised of a network of 6 regional carriers that operate under a codeshare and service agreement with American. Together the airlines operate around 3,400 daily flights to 240 destinations in the US, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico.
The Milbank team was led by New York-based Transportation and Space partner James Pascale, Capital Markets partners Rod Miller and Brett Nadritch, Global Leveraged Finance partner Charles Stern and Litigation & Arbitration partner Christopher Gaspar.
