Banks intensify aircraft financing; it reached R$4.1bn by the end of 2021
07/19/2022
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Sérgio Granado and Vitor Ohtsuki — Foto: Carol Carquejeiro/Valor
If car sales rose during the pandemic, with the middle class trying to escape the crowds in public transportation, in the more exclusive segment this movement has also been observed. Sales of executive jets have soared in recent years in Brazil, leading banks to take a closer look at this niche. Although it is a small market, as the ticket prices are high – between US$ 3 million and US$ 60 million – it guarantees multimillion portfolios for financial institutions.
According to data from the Brazilian Association of Leasing Companies (Abel), the main form of financing for aircraft, the value of fixed assets leases in this segment was R$4.1 billion by the end of 2021. Bradesco for many years led this market and, last year, had a 42.1% share, with R$1.7 billion. However, Santander created a specific area two years ago and has been growing strongly, with R$1.5 billion in fixed assets leases at the end of last year, or a market share of 36.8%. Other relevant players are Alfa, Citi, and Daycoval.
Brazil is the second-largest executive aviation market in the world, behind only the United States, with more than 16,000 aircraft. The head of Santander Private Banking, Vitor Ohtsuki, says that the bank saw an opportunity to enter this segment in 2020, with the increase in demand due to the pandemic and the strong movement of IPOs. These “liquidity events”, as they are called, have collaborated with the emergence of many millionaires in Brazil in recent years. Since then, the bank has financed 31 aircraft and expects to double this volume in the next 12 months. “There are clients who buy for leisure, but there are also many who use them for business. With a small jet, the time they save compared to a normal flight is often worth it.”
According to Mr. Ohtsuki, the bank started working with the top of the pyramid, that is, clients with R$40 million, R$50 million investment portfolios. Thus, it created a swift process that helps the client from the beginning to the end of the aircraft purchase, including tax, legal, and import issues. Now it is moving down the pyramid, including the agribusiness segment, aiming jets for farm owners (not those small aircraft used for spraying). The tickets are smaller, but the market potential is huge.
“It is a large volume of lower value aircraft. We have already talked to the 100 largest agribusiness producers, and now we are going to expand to other producers who are clients of the bank, but who are not necessarily in private banking,” says Sérgio Granado, superintendent of Products at Santander Private Banking.
At Bradesco, the financed amounts increased 134% in 2021 compared to the previous year, while the number of aircraft increased 130%. Júlio Paixão, chief loans and financing officer, says that 2020 had a bad result, due to problems in the aircraft production lines, but that 2021 was much better and this year, even in a scenario of economic slowdown, and the next should benefit from orders that are still being held up. “Last year we had a high demand for used aircraft. We even brought units that were flying in the U.S. to be sold here”, he says.
Unlike Santander, Bradesco works in partnership with the largest trading companies in the market. Mr. Paixão says that because of supply issues aircraft prices rose 47% last year, which also helped boost financed volumes, and with waiting lines until 2024, he doesn’t foresee a drop in prices any time soon. “With the pandemic, many private clients ended up showing a willingness to stop using commercial flights,” recalls Bruno Vilarinho, manager of the Loans and Financing department.
At Alfa, Ana Portela, national financing superintendent, says that the bank does not work only with leasing, but ends up using other lines of financing. According to her, the portfolio grew 50% last year and, in the first half of this year, it expanded 20%. As the second semester is historically better, the expectation is to close 2022 with an increase of 25% to 30%. “In the pandemic, with the cancellation of many flights, businesspersons found themselves without options and many ended up bringing forward the planning they already had of buying an aircraft, to be able to continue their business.”
According to her, there is no full correlation between this segment and the performance of the economic activity, but the increase in depreciation of the real affects the financing since all the costs of the sector are in U.S. currency. “There is a concern with the moment to acquire the good because everything is dollarized, but clients with this profile have programmed themselves for this, they have been following the market. They won’t go back on this decision, so I don’t see a step-back movement in the aircraft market.”
As in leasing, the asset belongs to the bank, and the default on aircraft financing is low. Not least because, as the borrower is most often a private banking client, the financial institution has a lot of information about his or her assets and payment capacity. The “know your client” processes are very robust, which makes it virtually impossible that the financed aircraft is diverted and used in illicit activities, such as drugs and weapons trafficking. In addition, the bank usually insures the vehicle.
The financing of business aircraft also includes helicopters. Even so, the possibility of expanding this credit to manned drones, the so-called “flying cars”, is still seen as something remote by executives in the sector. “Since leasing the property belongs to the bank, there is a great deal of rigor about the type of aircraft we finance. We need to have insurance available for them, for example. I think that drone financing may even happen in the future, but through corporate credit, for companies that operate with this type of aircraft. It takes longer to get to executive aviation,” says Vilarinho. “This is a market for 5, 10 years from now. You have to wait for the regulation and the creation of a logistic air network. When this happens, and the market evolves into a private means of transportation, we will follow this market”, remarks Mr. Paixão.
*By Álvaro Campos — São Paulo
Source: Valor International