Austria Adjusted Law to Allow Bail-In of Heta’s Senior Bonds
By Boris Groendahl - 27/feb/2015 16:29:53
(Bloomberg) -- Austria’s bank resolution law includes a clause that makes it possible to write down the senior bonds of Heta Asset Resolution AG, a wind-down vehicle for a failed Austrian bank, the Finance Ministry said.
The scope of the law, which came into force Jan. 1 to implement the European Union’s Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive, was broadened to explicitly include Heta, which otherwise would have been outside of the law’s perimeter, the ministry said in an e-mailed response to questions. While the law was adjusted from an earlier draft late last year, the ministry never advertised the change.
Heta was set up last year to manage and run off assets of nationalized lender Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International AG, which has cost Austrian taxpayers about 5.5 billion euros ($6.2 billion) so far. Its outstanding bonds are around 8.9 billion euros, according to data complied by Bloomberg.
“The instrument to bail in creditors is applicable according to article 162 (6) of the Austrian Bank Recovery and Resolution Law,” the ministry said. “The objectives and purposes of the BRRD would have been at risk as far as Heta is concerned if it had not been included.”
A spokeswoman for the ministry declined to say whether a bail-in will actually be implemented, reiterating comments from Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling who said yesterday that he was waiting for the results of an asset review. Those results could trigger a revision of Austria’s Heta strategy, Schelling and Chancellor Werner Faymann have said.
Heta yesterday appointed a new chief executive officer and two new management board members, which are due to take on their jobs in the next months.
Outstanding Bonds
If Austria decided to use the bail-in powers of the law on Heta, it may have to disclose that plan soon. The first major bond due to be repaid since Heta was set up, a 450 million-euro floater, is due March 6. A 500 million-euro floater follows March 20.
The notes maturing March 6 are quoted at about 83 cents on the euro, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The March 20 bonds today gained about 7 cents on the euro, its biggest intraday move ever, rising to 87.5 cents. Heta’s 1.25 billion euros of 4.25 percent senior notes due October 2016 also gained, rising 3.2 cents on the euro to 67.25 cents. That’s the highest since Jan. 20, the data show.
A possible bail-in would be complicated by the fact that Heta’s debt issued before 2007 is covered by a guarantee of the province of Carinthia, raising the question whether creditors that have been written down under the resolution regime can claim the loss against the province.
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[email protected] Zoe Schneeweiss, Jeff Black
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