Norton Rose has advised opposite Slaughter and May on British Airways' (BA) new $1.7bn (£820m) debt facility agreement.

Norton Rose fielded a team from its London office to act for a multinational line-up of lending banks on the multiple option facility, which was signed at the end of last month (26 October).

The move is intended to pay for up to 36 new BA aircraft delivered over the next five years.

The banks included ING, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Calyon, which acted as documentation, facility and security agents respectively.

Meanwhile, Norton Rose's Beijing arm acted for senior mandated lead arrangers Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The office also advised mandated lead arrangers Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation.

In addition, the five lead arrangers on the deal were Calyon, RBS, Commerzbank, ING and BNP Paribas.

Norton Rose fielded a heavyweight team on the deal with asset finance partner Peter Thorne taking the headline role. He was assisted by asset finance partner Neil Poland, tax partner Louise Higginbottom and associates Ran Robinson and Clive Smith.

Meanwhile, corporate partners Peter Joliffe and Tom Kinnersley led the team for Slaughters with support from associate Caroline Cowie.

The deal, the latest in a number of recent finance mandates for BA, comes despite the continued spectre of the credit crunch and underlines BA's draw for potential investors.