Christopher J. Chaput
Managing Director and Head of Structured Finance
cchaput@seaburygroup.com
Chris Chaput heads the firm's Structured Finance Group, which focuses on secured financings and off-balance sheet transactions (including leveraged leasing) involving aircraft, rail cars, real estate, ships and other assets. Most recently, Mr. Chaput was a senior member of the exclusive advisory team that represented US Airways in its successful merger with America West Airlines.
Mr. Chaput has been an innovator in the restructuring of EETCs―publicly traded, highly structured, aircraft-backed bonds. Recent activities include a $500 million sale-leaseback of EETC-encumbered aircraft during the course of a Chapter 11 case in order to raise additional liquidity. In addition, he has identified large, value added refinancing opportunities relative to EETC bonds in bankruptcy which can dramatically lower the financing cost to airlines. Seabury Structured Finance maintains a constant dialogue with hedge funds, private equity firms and other special opportunity investors in an effort to identify aircraft financing opportunities that will meet the specific needs of airlines in a restructuring mode.
Since joining Seabury in 2002, Mr. Chaput and the Structured Finance team have been extremely active in arranging and executing new financings and restructuring older financings of financially distressed companies. In the last two years, Seabury Structured Finance arranged over $5.0 billion of new aircraft lease and mortgage financings covering more than 200 new regional, narrowbody and widebody aircraft. In addition, Seabury Structured Finance has led negotiations for new aircraft financing commitments in excess of $3.0 billion for future delivery aircraft for various airlines worldwide. Mr. Chaput has overseen the restructuring of various airlines’ major financial commitments to aircraft manufacturers and other large financing companies, involving the restructuring of PDPs, the timing and composition of aircraft orders and other related complex secured financings.
Seabury has been very active in assisting airlines and investors in sourcing and disposing of used aircraft, including $100 million in transaction volume in 2005. In addition to traditional aircraft and other asset finance, Seabury Structured Finance has arranged warehouse debt facilities and private equity for various asset leasing ventures and real estate development projects.
Prior to joining Seabury, Mr. Chaput was an Executive Director in the Equipment Finance Group at Morgan Stanley from 1998 to September 2002, where he structured and executed 13 separate aircraft-backed EETC transactions for seven different airlines involving proceeds in excess of $4.5 billion. He was responsible for a variety of structural enhancements to the EETC product, including perfecting the popular new issue wrap structure. At Morgan Stanley, he was also active in financing real estate, rail cars and other assets.
Before joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Chaput was the Managing Director-Corporate Finance at Northwest Airlines (1990-1998) with wide-ranging responsibilities that included public and private capital markets issuance, liability management, rating agency relationships, aircraft finance, disposition on non-core businesses, acquisition planning and the restructuring of complex Japanese land mortgages. He initially served as Tax Counsel, advising on transactional matters, IRS audits and appeals, and tax-related lobbying.
Mr. Chaput practiced law with a Minneapolis law firm from 1986-1990, specializing in corporate, partnership and tax law. As a tax litigator , he won all 11 trials and appeals in which he appeared, including three cases in the Minnesota Supreme Court. He also worked in the Tax Department at Coopers & Lybrand from1985 to 1986.
Mr. Chaput earned his B.A. from Creighton University, magna cum laude, and his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School, where he taught Business Planning for two years as an adjunct professor. He holds his CPA certificate and is a FINRA representative registered with the Series 7, 79, 63 and 24.
