Ryanair aircraft to fall into Chinese ownership ?

Whilst it won't affect anyone getting on a Ryanair plane in the near future the ownership of some of the airline's aircraft is currently up in the air. The reason is the failure of Australian global financial services company Allco Financial Group which is currently in liquidation.

Creditors of Allco yesterday cleared the sale of it's aviation assets to Chinese buyer HNA which is jointly owned by Hainan Province, Hainan Airlines and US billionaire George Soros. The deal however is complicate by the fact that the 68 aircraft in the Allco portfolio were subject to loans of $3bn from 63 lenders. The lenders need to be convinced that the terms of the asset sale will guarantee them the repayment of loans due.

There has also been a dispute over the management rights over the planes and the existence of special purpose leasing companies which were created to handle individual deals. Some of the former Allco executives including David Veal who ran the company's aircraft leasing business have attempted to frustrate the deal with HNA by claiming that they have legal title over the aircraft and without their consent no deal can go through.

Once the legal red tape is cleared Allco are an attractive prospect as the fleet is of relatively young age and the client list is blue chip with Ryanair, Qantas, Emirates and Singapore Airlines among the clientele.