Etihad Airways Honored With Three Treasury Awards

Etihad Airways’ treasury team has once again been acknowledged for airline treasury management excellence with three key accolades at the 2016 Middle East, African & Islamic Finance Aviation 100 Awards presented by Airline Economics in Dubai this week.

Following a string of successes in recent months with leading awards from various organisations in London, Miami and Dubai, Etihad Airways won further honours with:

• The Middle East & Africa Overall Deal of the Year for Etihad Airways Partners’ (EAP) bond transactions totalling US$1.2 billion

• The Middle East & Africa Treasury Team of the Year

• The Middle East & Africa Treasurer of the Year awarded to Group Treasurer Ricky Thirion

A US$700m five-year landmark finance transaction completed by EAP in November 2015 was followed by a further US$500m issuance in April 2016. The funds were raised to support the requirements of Etihad Airways, its subsidiary Etihad Airport Services, and five of the carrier’s strategic airline partners – airberlin, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia and Jet Airways.

The ground-breaking funding from institutional investors was the airline industry’s first ever joint financing in the debt capital markets.

Etihad Airways’ multi-national treasury team was able to deliver these significant results by bringing together a comprehensive array of skill sets involving cash and liquidity control, risk management and hedging, funding, and relationships with banking partners, investors and rating agencies. The treasury team is also responsible for insurance, direct customer payments, as well as property and infrastructure.

Ricky Thirion, who has led the treasury department since joining the company almost 10 years ago, was honoured for his sterling work and leadership in building a world class treasury organisation.

James Rigney, Etihad Aviation Group Chief Financial Officer, said: “Our treasury team under the leadership of Ricky has worked tirelessly to deliver a robust global treasury management capability. Tremendous amount of time, effort and resource has been spent on creating and developing processes, and preparing treasury business plans to take the group to a new level.”

James Hogan, Etihad Aviation Group President and CEO, added: “Etihad Airways is renowned for delivering excellence and driving innovation across our business. Our unique bond transactions continue to be recognised by the international financial community that demonstrates our equity investment strategy in airlines is forward-thinking and reinforces the level of market confidence in our business model.

“Credit to James Rigney and his treasury team led by Ricky Thirion for building a strong treasury department, and creating the framework with our partners for completing two successful bond transactions, particularly in testing times during challenging economic conditions.”

Airline Economics, part of the Aviation News stable of aviation publications, is considered among the leading airline industry titles for insightful reporting and analysis. The awards were presented during Airline Economics Growth Frontiers, Dubai’s premier aviation finance event organised by Airline Economics for owners, investors and operators of commercial aircraft across the aviation industry.