The facts: According to the Italian press, UniCredit would be studying a liability mgmt. exercise on the CASHES issued early-2009 as part of the capital plan to be announced on 13th Dec.
Our analysis: The CASHES are equity-linked instruments, issued for a countervalue of EUR 2,983m in Feb 2009 with a maturity on Dec 2050 and convertible, under certain conditions, into 96.75m ordinary shares underwritten by Mediobanca.
Such shares are legitimately issued and are fully loss absorbing, but their amount is reclassified within Additional Tier1 capital for an amount of EUR 609m (or 15bps).
The press highlights the CASHES are currently priced 35-36% of their nominal value and the buy-back by UniCredit at a premium would offer a hefty capital gain to the bank.
More importantly, the current holders, among which the local Foundations CRT Carimonte and Cassamarca, as well as the Sovereign funds of Abu Dhabi and Libya, would exit an illiquid asset for cash that could be re-invested in the forthcoming rights issue of the group.