Frankfurt, April 01, 2009 -- Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded to Caa1 from Baa1 the rating of
the non-cumulative Tier-1 hybrid instruments ("undated silent partnership certificates") of HSH NORDBANK
AG ("HSH"), issued by the following entities:
- HSH N Funding I;
- HSH N Funding II;
- RESPARCS Funding I Limited Partnership; and
- RESPARCS Funding II Limited Partnership.
The rating action was prompted by HSH's recent announcement that it will not be servicing its silent capital
contributions and profit-participation certificates for the financial year 2008 and concludes the review for
possible downgrade initiated on 20 February 2009. The outlook on the ratings of the hybrid instruments is
now negative.
HSH's other ratings -- namely, its A1 senior debt and deposit ratings (negative outlook) and D bank financial
strength rating (on review for possible downgrade) -- were not affected by today's rating action.
DOWNGRADE REFLECTS NON-PAYMENT OF COUPONS AND POSSIBLE FUTURE LOSSES
Moody's downgrade of HSH's hybrid ratings to Caa1 from Baa1 reflects:
1) The non-payment of coupons in 2009 (for the financial year 2008);
2) Moody's expectation of a high probability of missed coupons in 2010 and 2011 (for the financial years
2009 and 2010, respectively);
3) The moderate risk of a principal write-down in a restructuring scenario.
Today's rating action was triggered by an EU Commission ruling prohibiting HSH from paying coupons on
these instruments. The non-cumulative instruments in question would normally be affected by a 'balancesheet
trigger' in the event of insufficient distributable profits. Such triggers are typically considered weak by
Moody's as institutions often manage to pay coupons despite recording sizeable losses. However, Moody's is
currently observing that the EU Commission is increasingly prohibiting payments on hybrid instruments for
banks in need of recapitalisation, in particular if these banks disclose substantial net losses; this is therefore
placing a major new pressure on such hybrid instruments.
HSH announced a preliminary pre-tax loss of EUR2.8 billion for the 2008 financial year and Moody's is also
expecting it to report substantial losses for 2009 and 2010.
The Caa1 rating also takes into account the moderate risk of a principal loss, based on the possibility that the
bank's restructuring might translate into the hybrid instruments possibly taking a loss.
The negative rating outlook reflects the uncertainties regarding structural changes at HSH and the low
earnings visibility in the currently unpredictable and unstable operating environment.
Moody's previous rating action on HSH was on 20 February 2009, when the long-term debt and deposit
ratings of HSH were downgraded to A1 from Aa3 and the BFSR to D from D+, and the hybrid ratings were
downgraded to A2 and placed on review for possible further downgrade. The principal methodologies used in
rating HSH are "Bank Financial Strength Ratings: Global Methodology" and "Guidelines for Rating Bank
Junior Securities", which can be found on
www.moodys.com in the Credit Policy & Methodologies directory,
in the Ratings Methodologies subdirectory. Other methodologies and factors that may have been considered
in the process of rating HSH can also be found in the Credit Policy & Methodologies directory.
Headquartered in Hamburg and Kiel, HSH had total assets of around EUR204.4 billion as at 30 June 2008.
London
Johannes Wassenberg
Managing Director
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service Ltd.
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Frankfurt
Uwe Barth
Asst Vice President - Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Deutschland GmbH
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
, le cedole vengono pagate sempre regolarmente ma la cosa la trovo almeno strana c'è forse rischio nazionalizzazione o peggio fallimento.? Ti allego il prospetto puoi darci un'occhiata per farmi capire a che condizioni potrebbero non pagare le cedole future ; purtroppo conosco poco d'inglese.