Anglo Irish Bondholders to Swap 92% of 2017 Notes
By John Glover and Abigail Moses - Nov 22, 2010 11:40 AM GMT+0100 Mon Nov 22 10:40:01 GMT 2010
Anglo Irish Bank Corp. said holders of 92 percent of its 2017 subordinated bonds agreed to swap their notes at a discount as the government forces investors to help pay for bank bailouts.
Holders of 690 million euros ($948 million) of bonds will receive 136.8 million euros of government-guaranteed one-year securities paying 375 basis points more than the euro interbank offered rate, Anglo Irish said in a statement today.
That amounts to 20 cents per euro of face value, allowing the lender to generate a gain that can be used to bolster its capital ratios.
Ireland was forced to turn to the European Union and
International Monetary Fund for a bailout because of losses racked up by its banks after a decade-long property bubble imploded. Anglo Irish will absorb about 34 billion euros of new capital to make up for bad loans, while other lenders will increase the total to as much as 54 billion euros, the government said in September.
“Sub debt is at risk whenever the government is significantly involved in the capital structure of a bank,” said
Eleonore Lamberty, an analyst at ING Bank NV in Amsterdam. “There will be a read-across for all Irish banks.”
Subordinated bonds of lenders including Bank of Ireland Plc, the nation’s largest bank, declined.
Bank of Ireland
Bank of Ireland’s 1 billion euros of 10 percent notes due 2020 fell 3.25 cents on the euro to a record 63 cents, according to BNP Paribas SA prices on Bloomberg. The Dublin-based company’s 248 million euros of floating-rate notes due 2017 declined 1 cent to 53 cents, BNP Paribas prices show.
Junior debt of Allied Irish Banks Plc, in which the government holds more than 90 percent and which must raise 10.4 billion euros of new capital by year-end, also fell. The lender’s 368 million pounds ($592 million) of 12.5 percent subordinated bonds due 2019 dropped 3 cents to 40 cents.
Anglo Irish bondholders will vote tomorrow to allow the bank to buy back notes that weren’t tendered at 1 cent per 1,000-euro face value, according to the statement. Holders agreeing to the exchange will be deemed to support the proposal.
The agreement may trigger credit-default swaps insuring Anglo Irish debt, according to Barclays Capital. These contracts pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should a borrower fail to adhere to its debt agreements.
A total 683 contracts insuring $372.8 million of Anglo Irish’s senior and subordinated debt were outstanding on Nov. 12, according to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., which runs a central registry for the market. Under the terms of the contracts, holders of swaps linked to both senior and subordinated debt can demand payment.
(Bloomberg)
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Da leggere per i bondholder in possesso di obbligazioni bancarie.