Bank of China taps banks for world's biggest aircraft leasing IPO

Singapore

BANK of China has hired Goldman Sachs and BOC International as joint sponsors for a US$3 billion Hong Kong listing of its aircraft leasing arm, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Bank of China plans to launch the IPO of Singapore-based BOC Aviation in the second quarter of this year, the people said, in what is set to be the world's biggest listing by an aircraft lessor.

The IPO comes as Asian lessors raise funds to challenge Western rivals in the nearly US$217 billion global industry, with huge orders or acquisitions to service the world's fastest-growing aviation market. Rival CDB Leasing, owned by state-controlled China Development Bank, plans to raise US$1 billion in another IPO set for the second-quarter 2016, the people said. "There won't be any shortage of investors because they are looking at not just an aircraft leasing company (BOC Aviation) but at a company whose future is entrenched in Asia…