UPDATE 2-Airbus signs Iran deal for 118 planes worth $27 bln

(Adds details, background)
PARIS, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Iran agreed on Thursday to buy 118
Airbus jets worth $27 billion at list prices, including a dozen
A380 superjumbos, after international sanctions were lifted
against Tehran this month.
The planemaker said the deal, signed amid a raft of others
during a visit by President Hassan Rouhani, was conditional on
getting U.S. export licences because more than 10 percent of
Airbus jetliner parts come from the United States.
The order for 73 wide-body and 45 narrow-body jets allows
Airbus to steal a march on US rival Boeing (N:BA) BA.N as Iran seeks
to renovate and expand its worn-out fleet of 225 planes.
The inclusion of A380s - the world's largest jetliner -
sends a commercial signal to established carriers in the Gulf,
and is a boost for Airbus, which has been struggling to sell
them. However, they will not be delivered before end-decade as
Iran expands its airports and focuses on urgent needs.
Boeing has so far held back from Iran amid what industry
sources and diplomats describe as political and legal concerns,
but Iranian officials are urging it to mimic its European rival.
The Airbus deal depends on unravelling a knot of financial
issues including whether and how Iran can avoid using the U.S.
financial system for the jets, usually priced in dollars.
Deputy transport minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan told
Reuters the deal would be financed using a mixture of European
export credits - which guarantee loans by commercial banks - and
lease financing.
In an unusual move, Iran plans to set up a national leasing
company with foreign investors invited to take a stake and no
automatic restriction on basing it outside Iran.
But problems need to be ironed out on rules for export
credit deals amid quibbles over collateral. ID:nL8N1580UQ
The deal was negotiated partly on the sidelines of a major
CAPA aviation conference in Tehran this week, where Iran
outlined requirements for 400-500 planes and offered flexible
new regulations. ID:nL8N15803J
"It was the first international platform for Iran to say we
are back in business" since implementation of the deal ending
sanctions on Jan 17, Bertrand Grabowski, a managing director of
DVB Bank, said.
Other models ordered include 45 A320-family jets and 45
longer-haul A330s. Both those sets of orders included current
and revamped models and helped lift the catalogue value of the
deal from earlier estimates of $25 billion.
Iran also ordered 16 long-range A350-1000 twin-engined jets.