About

Michael Rurik Halaby, FRAeS

Michael Halaby has 20+ years of providing strategic funding advice to C-suite executives in the aviation, automotive and financial institution sectors on accessing the US$ and international bond, secured bank debt, and regional financing markets; he has arranged over US$122 billion in debt financing via ~270 transactions for borrowers in the US, Europe and Middle East.  Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

  • Michael is Managing Director - Head of Aviation Advisory at MUFG Bank, Ltd. in London; his role is to supervise the bank's aviation advisory activity: ranging from debt and equity sourcing to ESG advice to airline and lessor consulting.  He is an active speaker and writer on ESG in aviation
  • Previously, Michael was Head of Aviation Debt Origination – EMEA at Deutsche Bank for over six years; he was responsible for client coverage of airlines, aircraft operating lessors and aviation-related businesses across the debt product suite (eg secured bank debt, EETC, unsecured bonds, private placements, ABS, Schuldschein, Jolco); he increasingly spent time on equity private placements and M&A  
  • Michael has also been an active speaker/panellist on ESG/sustainability-linked financing in the aviation sector   
  • Previously Michael was a Senior Transactor in Deutsche Bank’s Structured Finance team structuring secured debt transactions for airlines and aircraft leasing companies located in EMEA and some select names in the US  
  • Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Michael worked at Valais Advisory for two years providing issuers and investors with impartial, independent assistance in securing and understanding debt capital markets financing  
  • Previous to Valais, Michael was at BNP Paribas in New York for six years as Managing Director — Debt Capital Markets where he was responsible for financials and aviation DCM.  He personally executed 104 transactions with a total value of US$66.8 billion as Lead Manager/Bookrunner. Michael also built and ran the Yankee bond product group  
  • Before BNP Paribas, Michael worked for ABN AMRO, for ten years, initially in Amsterdam then London and New York in their Debt Capital Markets group covering US aviation, auto and FIG clients.  At ABN AMRO, Michael executed 152 transactions with a total value of US$55.3bn as Lead Manager/Bookrunner  
  • Michael received his MBA from Columbia Business School and received his BSBA from the University of Denver; he also attended the Université de la Sorbonne (diplomé in French Civilisation)  
  • Before business school, Michael worked for four years at American Express Carte – France and for American Express Bank, both in Paris  
  • Michael often speaks at company presentations and conferences on the state of the debt markets for borrowers and lenders/investors, including ICAO, Airline Economics, AirFinance Journal, Air Convention, Ishka  
  • He also is quoted in various publications including the Financial Times, Airfinance Journal, Airline Economics  
  • He is presently FCA registered and was a US registered representative (Series 17, 24 and 63); he is a British-American citizen  
  • Michael is a member of ISTAT and sits on the ISTAT Humanitarian Committee; he is also a Committee Member of The Aviation Club UK  
  • He was a helicopter pilot (R44), designed a line of aviation-themed notebooks: FLIGHTBOOK, and is an avid amateur aviation photographer