We’re used to this kind of corporate stone-walling. But we didn’t realise you could give the NYSE the same treatment.
Babcock & Brown Air, the aircraft leasing business floated in the US last year by the Irish-based outpost of the Australian investment firm, on Monday had an announcement to make:
In view of the unusual market activity in Babcock & Brown Air Limited (FLY) stock, the Exchange has contacted the company and requested that the company issue a public statement indicating whether there are any corporate developments which may explain the unusual market activity.
The company stated that its policy is not to comment on unusual market activity.
Helpful. The “unusual activity” is a 30 per cent plunge in the price of its ADRs in the past week, and a full 17.8 per cent on Monday. The company could have perhaps contended that the activity wasn’t that unusual in the light of its performance since IPO.
The only news of note coming out of B&B Air on Monday was an announcement from the servicer company that it had extended a number of leases and delivered one aircraft to another airline. Which sounds like good news, especially as the airline industry prepares itself for the travails of an economic downturn.
Circumstantially we’d note that on the CDO liquidation agenda for Monday was $581m of securities backed by “auto loans, credit cards, student loans and aircraft asset-backed securities.” Not unusually for the sector, B&B Air is part-financed through the securitisation of leases and last year used $853m of securitised leases along with its IPO proceeds to fund the purchase of planes.
