Seabury Group LLC’s broker-dealer unit, Seabury Securities LLC, today announced that it served as financial advisor to US Airways Group, Inc. in securing $950 million of new financing through a series of transactions with several of the company’s strategic business partners. This follows the August 2008 successful $179 million common equity offering for which Seabury also advised US Airways.
Since being retained by US Airways in mid-summer, Seabury has assisted the company in securing a total of approximately $1.1 billion in new financing and financing commitments. During that same period, the airline industry has been buffeted by a deep credit crisis and significant challenges arising from severe fluctuations in fuel costs and changes in global travel demand.
“Seabury appreciates the opportunity to work with US Airways to structure these important agreements which help put the company in a much stronger financial position for the future,” said John E. Luth, Seabury Group Chairman, President, and CEO. “The fact that US Airways has raised over $1 billion since it announced second quarter earnings demonstrates the kind of cooperation that is possible, even in an extremely challenging industry environment and during an unprecedented global credit crisis.”
US Airways Chief Financial Officer Derek Kerr said, “On behalf of the entire US Airways leadership team, we thank Seabury Group CEO John Luth and the Seabury team for their outstanding work as our financial advisor.”
US Airways, along with US Airways Shuttle and US Airways Express, operates approximately 3,200 flights per day and serves 200 communities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America. The airline employs more than 34,000 aviation professionals worldwide and is a member of the Star Alliance network, which offers customers 18,000 daily flights to 965 destinations in 162 countries worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.usairways.com
About Seabury
Seabury Securities LLC is the U.S. broker-dealer subsidiary of the Seabury Group LLC, whose flagship operating unit, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace LLC (“Seabury”), is the largest investment banking and advisory practice serving aviation, aerospace, and cargo. Through its 175 professionals based in 11 offices on four continents, Seabury provides advisory services spanning investment banking, corporate transformation, management consulting, and IT development and consulting.
Seabury was awarded Airfinance Journal’s “North American Deal of the Year” for the $750 million equity offering structured and placed for Northwest Airlines in 2007. Seabury has now advised over 200 clients worldwide in over 450 engagements spanning Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.
Seabury Group also provides similar services covering maritime and the financial services industries.