The Corporate Jet and Helicopter Finance conference held in London during February 7th and 8th culminated with the inauguration of the annual Corporate Jet Investor awards. Presented by Alasdair Whyte, Editor of corporatejetinvestor.com, the awards were presented to an illustrious set of winners from the international aviation finance sector who have shown outstanding ability and achievement in the field of business jet and helicopter financing or lending during 2011.

Recognising his significant contribution to the industry, The Special Achievement Award went to Brian Johnson and the launch team of the Isle of Man Registry. Collecting the award Johnson, who is now Director of Operations at Appleby Aviation, commented how the timing was perfect - the registry has just added the 450th M-registered business aircraft. Whilst the register is less than five years old, it is now the world's seventh largest private aircraft registry and has established the Isle of Man as an important business jet centre.

Reflecting the increased importance of the Asian market, Minsheng Finance Leasing, a subsidiary of China's ninth largest bank, collected the award for Asian Business Jet Financier 2012. The award recognised the importance of Minsheng's decision to focus their aviation finance wholly on general aviation, leaving other banks to pick up commercial aviation needs. By the end of 2011 Minsheng had placed orders for 87 aircraft, worth over US$1.3 billion, and taken delivery of 28 business jets, about a third of the Chinese mainland fleet.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch collected two awards -- Best Global Jet Financier and Best North American Financier -- thanks to its consistent delivery of well structured corporate aircraft acquisition and refinancing, serving businesses and high net worth individuals. Credit Suisse were the only other institution to pick up two awards recognising it as Best Private Bank for Business Jet Finance and Advisory and European Business Jet Financier.

The Corporate Jet Investor awards aim to support increased understanding of the importance of appropriate finance to the aviation sector and hope to encourage new lenders to the market. They also reward committed lenders and help aircraft buyers recognize the best in class. Selected by industry specialists at OEMs and leading brokers, the awards are set to become a quality bench mark for financiers as they are nominated and voted for by those working in the sector every day.

Other Accolades Included:

Latin American Business Jet Financier 2012: 1st Source Bank
Middle East & African Business Jet Financier 2012: Investec and Mubadala GE Capital
Pre-owned Business Jet Financier 2012: GE Capital Corporate Aircraft Finance
Helicopter Financier 2012: Milestone Aviation Group
Innovative Business Jet Financier 2012: Guggenheim Partners Business Aircraft Investments. (Highly commended in the category in this category was ExecuJet, for its SimplyFly programme).
Deal of the Year 2012: Flight Option's US$167 million loan from BNDES

Contributed by Corporate Jet Investor