Carinthia May Kick Off Heta Tender in Dec. 10 Assembly Meeting
By Boris Groendahl and Alexander Weber - 26 nov 2015, 18:15:25
The Austrian province of Carinthia, whose solvency is threatened by 11 billion euros ($11.7 billion) of bank bonds it guaranteed, may kick off a tender offer designed to defuse that risk in a regional parliament session on Dec. 10.
The session will decide whether to go ahead with a tender for bonds issued by bad bank Heta Asset Resolution AG and how much to offer to buy them, speaker Reinhard Rohr said on Thursday in the assembly in Klagenfurt, Austria. The size of the offer will be based on the amount expected to be recovered after winding down Heta’s assets, plus a contribution based on Carinthia’s “economic capability,” the province has said.
Carinthia’s lawmakers were being informed by the regional government late on Thursday about more details relating to the offer, Rohr said. If approved by Carinthia’s parliament, the tender will be made by a public trust named Kaerntner Ausgleichszahlungs-Fonds, which was established earlier this month.
Heta is managing the remnants of Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International AG, one of the most damaging Austrian bank failures after the 2008 financial crisis. Austria spent billions of euros to prop up Hypo Alpe after nationalizing the bank in 2009, angering voters and undermining the country’s credit ratings.