PRESS RELEASE

GTLK Asia Leasing Company Registered in Hong Kong

PJSC State Transport Leasing Company (PJSC GTLK), owned solely by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, has registered a subsidiary company GTLK Asia in Hong Kong.

GTLK Asia will focus on providing aviation equipment leasing services to Russian and Chinese airlines, as well as attracting financing from Asian banks and funds, including Chinese banks and funds.

GTLK Asia will be located in Hong Kong. A leasing hub is being built in this region, and a favourable tax treatment for leasing companies has been in effect since 2017. Additionally, the majority of the largest Chinese banks who provide leasing services have their offices in Hong Kong.

It is planned that after reaching USD 1.5 billion portfolio, GTLK Asia will issue dollar bonds to attract financing from Asian banks and funds.

Potential GTLK Asia customers are the Pacific Rim companies, as well as leading transport companies in the Middle East and Africa.

PJSC GTLK already has a subsidiary leasing company GTLK Europe registered in Ireland. GTLK Europe leasing portfolio is USD 2 billion with Airbus and Boeing aircrafts forming the bulk of it.

"The leasing market of Asia and China in particular is experiencing a boom: more and more international leasing companies are entering this market. This is due to the fact that there are no restrictions for foreign borrowers entering the debt market to finance their business in Hong Kong, and there is also a favourable tax treatment for aviation leasing," said Roman Lyadov, General Director of GLTK Asia.

"For a long time PJSC GTLK has been successfully working with financial institutions of China within the framework of aviation leasing. Thus, in 2013-2015, ICBC provided credit facilities to GTLK to finance deliveries of 3 Boeing and 5 Airbus to Aeroflot, and in 2016 the delivery of 7 Airbus was financed by CMB Financial Leasing. The rational continuation of the cooperation was the opening of our subsidiary, GTLK Asia, in Hong Kong. Our aim is to be closer to the target customers and diversify the borrowings geography," said Sergey Khramagin, General Director of PJSC GTLK.

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State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK) is the largest leasing company in Russia. It leases air, water and rail transport, automotive and special equipment for domestic enterprises of the transport industry, as well as invests in the development of Russian transport infrastructure. The sole shareholder of the company is the Russian Federation represented by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. GTLK has double B credit ratings from three leading international rating agencies, as well as a national scale rating of A+(RU) from the ACRA agency. The company's leasing portfolio exceeded USD 13.3 billion as of 31 June 2018.