CASE STUDY
The Client:
A family office managing the investments and business interests of high net worth individuals with diversified holdings spanning aviation, entertainment services, and technology ventures. Operating with the long-term investment horizon and strategic flexibility that characterizes sophisticated family offices, the organization oversees multiple operating businesses while maintaining substantial assets including private aircraft used for both business aviation and specialized commercial applications. With the financial backing and decision-making authority that comes from managing significant family wealth, the office pursues opportunities that combine business returns with strategic interests, including investments in the entertainment industry and emerging technology sectors where conventional lenders struggle to provide capital due to non-traditional business models or specialized asset types.
The Challenge:
The family office needed to refinance two Phenom 300 aircraft with specific objectives—one required cash-out refinancing for year-end balance sheet treatment, while the second faced an approaching balloon payment maturity. However, one of the Phenom 300s presented extraordinary complexity that would stop most lenders: the aircraft was highly specialized for aerial cinematography, equipped with sophisticated camera systems inside and outside the cockpit for filming acrobatic runs, dogfights, low-level maneuvers, and high-energy flight scenes for major feature films including “Top Gun: Maverick.” The specialized camera equipment and unique mission profile made traditional aircraft financing nearly impossible, as conventional lenders couldn’t assess the risk profile or collateral value of a modified aircraft serving the niche aerial cinematography market. Beyond the aircraft financing, the family office also needed capital for a separate portfolio company requiring a $1 million equipment line for GPS tracking devices—equipment with limited fungibility and poor resale characteristics that traditional lenders avoid. Complicating matters further, the GPS tracking business was pre-revenue, lacking the financial history that conventional underwriting requires regardless of the quality of family office backing or the strategic merit of the venture.
Solution:
First National Capital recognized that family office relationships require a fundamentally different underwriting approach—one that evaluates the financial strength and sophistication of the backing organization rather than applying rigid criteria to individual transactions or assets that may fall outside conventional parameters. The transaction began with a referral from one family office to another, immediately establishing credibility and relationship context that informed First National’s approach. FNC felt comfortable proceeding knowing two high net worth individuals backed the transactions, providing the financial strength and commitment that traditional financial metrics couldn’t capture. After issuing the term sheet for the two Phenom 300 aircraft—including the specialized aerial cinematography platform that conventional lenders had declined—the relationship quickly expanded when the family office referred an equipment financing opportunity for $1 million in GPS tracking devices from another portfolio business. Despite the equipment being non-fungible assets with limited secondary market appeal, First National approved the $1 million equipment line based on the strength of the family office relationship and confidence in the backing organization. Even though the GPS tracking company was pre-revenue and lacked traditional financial performance metrics, FNC was comfortable funding the transaction based on the broader relationship and the family office’s demonstrated financial capacity. This relationship-based approach enabled First National to provide comprehensive capital solutions across multiple family office portfolio companies, supporting both the specialized aircraft operations serving the entertainment industry and the pre-revenue technology venture that traditional lenders couldn’t accommodate, while establishing a financing partnership that will continue supporting the family office’s diverse business interests and growth initiatives.
It All Begins With A Conversation
We listen. We live out-of-the-box. We solve problems. And we get deals done. Let’s do this.
