Pension Insurance Corporation has invested £75m (€104m) in airline debt.
The UK pension buyout specialist, which insures defined benefit funds, bought debt issued by Virgin Atlantic Airways in the first investment of its kind.
Macquarie advised the investor.
The debt is secured by the airline’s portfolio of landing slots at London’s Heathrow Airport.
Virgin Atlantic issued £220m in senior notes.
PIC is the largest member of a consortium of lenders including Hastings Funds Management, Standard Life Investments and Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management.
Allen Twyning, head of debt origination at Pension Insurance Corporation, said: “The structure benefits from many key features designed to protect investors, with a low initial loan-to-value ratio that decreases over time.
“The high demand for VAA’s predominantly trans-Atlantic slots underpins the strength of the transaction.”
PIC recently invested £70m in secured debt funding retirement housing for the Church of England.
The company has also invested in a social housing bond and considered London’s Thames Tideway project.
