Intrepid Aviation today announced the closing of a Pre Delivery Payment (“PDP”) Financing Facility with Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa, a division of FirstRand Bank Limited, covering one (1) Airbus A330-200 aircraft to be delivered in September 2013 and leased to Air Namibia. The transaction marks Intrepid Aviation’s first tapping into the African banking market and first PDP financing under its new management.

“We are delighted to add Rand Merchant Bank as a core banking partner and intend to further expand our relationship going forward”, said Olaf Sachau, Intrepid’s Chief Financial Officer. “The closing of this facility is a milestone achievement for us and testament to the successful implementation of our strategy of developing non-traditional aviation finance markets in line with regional lease placements.”

“RMB is proud to be able to partner with yet another quality global Aviation Leasing entity such as Intrepid and provide them with local market knowledge, execution capability on the African continent and specialist aviation skills”, said Wouter du Preez, Head of Aviation at Rand Merchant Bank. “We have been a funding partner to Air Namibia for many years and this mandate continues our support for African aviation and the global aircraft leasing market.”