Montag, 22. November 2010

AUFRUF: Besitzer von Anglo Irish Bank Anleihen 2014 und 2016

Bei nachrangigen 2014er und 2016er Anleihen der verstaatlichten Anglo Irish Bank gibt es derzeit ein Umtauschangebot in neue Anleihen, wobei die Anleihenbesitzer auf 80 % ihres Nominalwertes verzichten sollen. Anleihenbesitzer, die das Angebot nicht annehmen, droht die Regierung de facto mit einer Enteignung und dem Totalverlust, falls auf einer Versammlung der Anleihebesitzer am 22.12. 3/4 der Anleihenbesitzer dieses Vorgehen absegnen.

Derzeit bündeln mehrere Investorengruppen (Erwerbsangebot einer Gruppe) ihre Kräfte, um gegen diese Enteignung zu stimmen. In den 2014er Anleihen gibt es bereits fast eine Sperrminorität und in den 2016er Anleihen bereits grössere Pakete.

Besitzer von 2014er und 2016er Anglo-Anleihen melden sich am besten in der Redaktion e-Mail, um das weitere Vorgehen zu koordinieren.

© 2010 Der Spekulant

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2010-11/18629592-aufruf-besitzer-von-anglo-irish-bank-anleihen-2014-und-2016-001.htm

Mittwoch, 17. November 2010

EU's Almunia: no date for Anglo-Irish Bank decision

BRUSSELS, Nov 17 (Reuters) - European Union competition regulators have no date set for a decision on the restructuring of troubled Anglo-Irish Bank, the EU's competition commissioner said on Wednesday.

'We received recently the proposal for a restructuring plan, coming from the Irish authorities, we have started the analysis of this restructuring plan,' Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told a news briefing.

He said the European Commission was in contact with the Irish government on support for its troubled banks, but it was too soon to say how the situation would develop.

'We have no date for a decision, of course, given the situation in Ireland, a decision should come as rapidly as possible, but at the same time we cannot anticipate the conclusion of the conversations.' Keywords: EU ANGLOIRISH/

(Brussels newsroom, +32 2 287 6830; brussels.newsroom@reuters.com)

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2010-11/18579748-eu-s-almunia-no-date-for-anglo-irish-bank-decision-020.htm

Freitag, 12. November 2010

No guarantee that Anglo will be restructured by end of the year

By Laura Noonan

Friday November 12 2010

THE Department of Finance has admitted that Anglo Irish Bank's long-awaited restructuring may not be completed by the end of the year.

The news comes two months after the Government anno-unced plans to split Anglo into a savings institution and an asset recovery division that will run off the bank's loan book.

At the time, the Government stressed its desire to bring Anglo's fate to a swift conclusion and bank boss Mike Aynsley said he expected the restructuring to take place by the end of the year.

A spokesman for the Department of Finance last night confirmed that the split "may not happen on January 1", but stressed that it would take place "as soon as feasible".

Anglo's revised business plan was only submitted to the European Commission in the last week of October, prompting some to speculate that an approval may not arrive this side of Christmas.

Sources in Brussels said that a pre-Christmas approval had not been ruled out, while the Department of Finance said the Commission was "working with all speed" to process the plan.

"The plan is obviously complex and the Commission has sought to clarify certain issues with the bank and the authorities," the Department of Finance added in a statement.

"The Commission will make a decision based on its own assessment and we do not have control over their processes."

A spokeswoman for the Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia (above) confirmed that the final Anglo plan had been received, but said she couldn't guide on when a decision will be announced.

Issues

"It may be that the split may not happen on January 1 given that even if there is a decision by the commission there will be a number of operational issues to be finalised," the Department of Finance said.

"However, the split will take place as soon as feasible."

The situation leaves Anglo employees in limbo, as it is unclear what impact the split will have on their jobs. A key determinant will be the level of shared services allowed between the savings bank and asset recovery bank.

As well as examining how "separate" the two institutions should be, the Commission is also looking at whether the savings bank will be allowed to attract new deposits and compete aggressively on interest rates.

While there are a number of issues to be worked through, it is understood that no major stumbling blocks have emerged, reflecting Europe's initial welcoming of the split plan.

The plan only emerged after the Commission expressed serious concerns about proposals to split Anglo into a "bad bank", to run down Anglo's toxic loans, and a "good bank" that would house performing loans and savings, and be allowed to carry out new lending.

Commission

The Commission is also weighing up restructuring plans for Irish Nationwide and EBS. Mr Almunia's spokeswoman said there was "no update" on those plans.

In September, Mr Almunia said the Commission was "in the process of finalising its assessment" of EBS and would examine Nationwide's plan once it had gotten details of the building society's future capital needs.

- Laura Noonan

Irish Independent

Montag, 1. November 2010

Erwerbsangebot und Aufruf an alle Anglo Irish Bank Bondholder der 2014er Tier 2 Anleihe

Erwerbsangebot und Aufruf an alle Anglo Irish Bank Bondholder der 2014er Tier 2 Anleihe

EXchange Investors N.V. / Schlagwort(e): Rechtssache/Squeeze-Out

01.11.2010 10:00 -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------

ERWERBSANGEBOT

UND AUFRUF

(BARANGEBOT)

der

EXchange Investors NV

Orlyplein 85

1043 DS Amsterdam,

Niederlande

('EX')

an die Anleiheinhaber der

Anglo Irish Bank plc

Head Office Dublin

Stephen Court

18/21 St. Stephens Green

Dublin 2

Irland

('Angiri')

zum Erwerb der 2014er Tier-2 Anleihe der

Anglo Irish Bank plc

zum Preis von

EUR 20,2% des Nominalbetrages

Dieses Angebot richtet sich ausschließlich an Anleiheinhaber der obigen Anleihe mit Wohnsitz oder Sitz in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Äthiopien, Ghana und Sudan.

Annahmefrist:

1. November 2010 bis 10. Dezember 2010, 24:00 Uhr (Ortszeit Dublin)

Tier-2 Anleihe ISIN XS0194937503 (WKN A0BDY8)

1. Rechtsgrundlage des Angebots

Dieses Angebot wird von der EX ausschließlich nach deutschem und afrikanischen Recht durchgeführt. Eine Durchführung als Angebot außerhalb der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

und der obig genannten afrikanischen Länder nach den Bestimmungen einer anderen Rechtsordnung ist nicht beabsichtigt. Anleiheinhaber können folglich nicht auf die Anwendung ausländischer Rechtsvorschriften zum Schutz von Anlegern vertrauen.

Das Angebot unterliegt nicht den Regelungen des Wertpapiererwerbs- und Übernahmegesetzes (WpÜG), da die Anleihe der Anglo Irish Bank plc nicht an einem organisierten Markt i.S.d. § 1 Abs. 1 WpÜG zugelassen sind.

2. Zusammenfassung des Angebots

Diese Zusammenfassung wird durch die übrigen, ausführlicheren Informationen in diesem Erwerbsangebot ergänzt und ist daher in Verbindung mit diesen zu lesen.

Bieterin: EXchange Investors NV, Amsterdam

Zielinstrument: 2014er Tier 2 Anleihe ISIN XS0194937503 (WKN A0BDY8)

Gegenleistung: Barzahlung in Höhe von EUR 20,2% je Nominalbetrag der Anleihe (also 202 Euro pro 1000 Nominal ausstehendem Anleihebetrag)

Annahmefrist: 1. November 2010 bis 10. Dezember 2010, 24:00 Uhr (Ortszeit Dublin)

Annahme: Die Annahme des Angebots ist gegenüber dem jeweils Depotführenden Wertpapierdienstleistungsunternehmen, z. B. einem Kreditinstitut ('Depotführendes Institut')

schriftlich zu erklären. Die Annahme wird erst mit fristgemäßer Umbuchung der 'Zum Verkauf' eingereichten Anleihen wirksam.

Die Annahme des Angebots kann nicht widerrufen werden.

Bedingungen: Das Angebot unterliegt einer Maximalannahmegröße von zunächst 15 Millionen Nominal.

Kosten: Die Annahme des Angebots ist für die Anleiheinhaber mit Sitz in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland oder über eine deutsche Niederlassung eines ausländischen

Depotführenden Instituts frei von Kosten oder Spesen. Die von ausländischen Depotführenden Instituten erhobenen Kosten und Spesen sind von den das Angebot annehmenden

Anleiheinhabern zu tragen.

3. Hintergrund des Angebots

Am 21.10.2010 veröffentlichte die Anglo Irish Bank plc ein Angebot zum Tausch der obigen Anleihe zum Preis von 20% in staatsgesicherte 'NeuAnglo' Anleihen.

Dieses Angebot ist unter anderem in der Schweiz, Grossbritannien, USA, Japan und sogar im Heimatland Irland partiell unzulässig und richtet sich nicht an bestimmte

Anleiheinhaber, da es in dem Fall dass die Annahmeschwelle 75% betragen wird, zu einer Ausbuchung und damit Enteignung 'Squeeze Out' der restlichen Anleihen zu 1 eurocent führen

kann. (Da das Anglo Angebot beispielsweise nicht an Schweizer Inhaber der Anleihe gerichtet ist, kann der Inhaber ohne Einflussmöglichkeit nur darauf hoffen, daß die 75% Stimmmehrheit nicht zusammenkommen).

Dieses Angebot hält die EX für rechtswidrig, da es möglicherweise einen marktmanipulativen Einfluss auf Inhaber der Anleihen insbesondere in den obigen Ländern zur Folge hat, in denen der Inhaber seine Anleihen nicht tauschen kann.

Die EXchange Investors vertritt bereits circa 18,7% der ausstehenden Anleihen dieser Gattung. Mit einer Stimmrechtshöhe von 25% in der Gläubigerversammlung am 22.12.2010 in London kann die zwansgweise Ausbuchung und Enteignung der Anleihe sicher blockiert werden.

Daher akkumuliert die EXchange Investors nun und bietet darüber hinaus allen Inhabern der Anleihe die unentgeldliche Vertretung der Anleihenstimmrechte in der Gläubigerversammlung an.

Das vollständige Anglo Angebot (zum Vergleich) kann hier eingelesen werden:

http://www.angloirishbank.com/Media-Centre/Press_Release_Archive/Con sent_E xchange_Proposal_by_Anglo_Irish_Bank_Corporation_Limited_to_the_bene ficial _owners_of_its%E2%80%99_EUR_dated_subordinated_securities.pdf

4. Stimmrechtsvertretung in der Gläubigerversammlung am 22.12.2010

Hiermit bietet die EX allen interessierten Anleihegläubigern dieser Gattung die Vertretung Ihres Stimmrechts am 22.12.2010 in der in London stattfindenen Gläubigerversammlung an. Bitte korrespondieren Sie hierzu mit frankscheunert@web.de.

Die Einladung zur Gläubigerversammlung wird nach derzeitigem Sachstand am 19.11.2010 veröffentlicht.

5. Annahme und Abwicklung des Angebots

5.1 Annahme des Angebots

Die Anglo Irish Bank plc Anleiheinhaber können dieses Angebot nur innerhalb der Annahmefrist und nur schriftlich gegenüber dem jeweils Depotführenden Wertpapierdienstleistungsunternehmen, z. B. einem Kreditinstitut ('Depotführendes Institut') mit Sitz in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland oder der deutschen Niederlassung eines ausländischen Depotführenden Instituts annehmen. Zur Einhaltung der Frist ist der Zugang der Annahmeerklärung bei dem jeweiligen Depotführenden Institut maßgeblich.

Das Angebot wird durch Erklärung mit dem unten näher bezeichneten Inhalt ('Annahmeerklärung') gegenüber dem Depotführenden Institut bei der Clearstream Banking AG angenommen.

Die Annahme wird erst mit Umbuchung wirksam. Die Umbuchung ist durch das Depotführende Institut vorzunehmen bzw. zu veranlassen. Die Umbuchung der Anleihen gilt in diesem

Fall als fristgerecht vorgenommen, wenn sie bis zum zweiten Bankarbeitstag in Dublin nach Ende der Annahmefrist, bis 17:30 Uhr Ortszeit, bewirkt worden ist.

Annahmeerklärungen, die nicht innerhalb der Annahmefrist dem jeweiligen Depotführenden Institut zugehen oder die fehlerhaft oder unvollständig ausgefüllt sind, gelten nicht als Annahme des Angebots und berechtigen den jeweiligen Anleihegläubiger nicht zum Erhalt der Gegenleistung. Weder die EX noch für sie handelnde Personen sind verpflichtet, dem jeweiligen Anleiheinhaber etwaige Mängel oder Fehler der Annahmeerklärungen anzuzeigen, und unterliegen für den Fall, dass eine solche Anzeige unterbleibt, keiner Haftung. Die EX behält sich jedoch das Recht vor, auch verspätet zugegangene oder fehlerhaft oder unvollständig ausgefüllte Annahmeerklärungen zu akzeptieren.

Anleiheninhaber erklären zugleich mit der Annahme dieses Angebots,

(a) dass sie anerkennen, dass sich die Annahme des Angebots auf alle in ihrem Wertpapierdepot verbuchten Anleihen bezieht, sofern sie (i) in ihrer Annahmeerklärung keine konkrete Anzahl von Anleihen angegeben haben bzw. (ii) in ihrer Annahmeerklärung eine Anzahl von Anleihen angegeben haben, welche die Anzahl der tatsächlich

in ihrem Wertpapierdepot gehaltene Anzahl an Anleihen überschreitet;

(b) dass die von ihnen zum Verkauf eingereichten Anleihen in ihrem alleinigen Eigentum stehen und frei von Rechten und Ansprüchen Dritter sind und keinerlei Verfügungsbeschränkungen unterliegen;

(c) dass sie das Depotführende Institut anweisen, die in der Annahmeerklärung bezeichneten Anleihen umzubuchen und zunächst in ihrem Depot zu belassen;

(d) dass mit Übertragung des Eigentums an den 'Zum Verkauf' eingereichten Anleihen alle mit diesen verbundenen Rechte, einschließlich aller Kuponansprüche, auf die EX übergehen.

Die in den Absätzen (a) bis (d) aufgeführten Weisungen, Aufträge, Zusicherungen und Vollmachten werden im Interesse einer reibungslosen und zügigen Abwicklung dieses Erwerbsangebots unwiderruflich erteilt.

5.2 Rechtsfolgen der Annahme des Angebots

Die Annahme dieses Angebots hat zur Folge, dass ein verbindlicher Kaufvertrag zwischen dem jeweiligen das Angebot annehmenden Anleiheinhabern und der EX gemäß den Bestimmungen dieses Erwerbsangebotes abgeschlossen wird. Der Kaufvertrag unterliegt deutschem Recht. Der Vollzug des Kaufvertrages erfolgt nach Ablauf der Annahmefrist.

Ferner geben die annehmenden Anleiheinhaber die in diesem Erwerbsangebot unter Ziffer 5.1 aufgeführten Erklärungen unwiderruflich ab und erteilen die dort genannten Weisungen, Aufträge und Vollmachten.

5.3 Abwicklung des Angebots und Kaufpreiszahlung

Die zum Verkauf eingereichten Anleihen verbleiben zunächst in den Depots der einreichenden Anleiheinhaber und werden nach Ablauf der Frist umgebucht.

Die Zahlung des Angebotspreises erfolgt im Einklang mit den Bestimmungen dieses Erwerbsangebots an das jeweilige Depotführende Institut Zug um Zug gegen Übertragung der Zum Verkauf eingereichten Anleihen auf das Depot der EX bei der Clearstream Banking AG zur Weiterübertragung und Übereignung der Anleihen an die EX.

Die Zentrale Abwicklungsstelle wird den Angebotspreis unverzüglich, spätestens jedoch am achten Bankarbeitstag nach Ablauf der Annahmefrist, an das jeweilige Depotführende Institut überweisen. Mit der Gutschrift des Kaufpreises bei dem jeweiligen Depotführenden Institut hat die EX ihre Verpflichtung zur Zahlung des Kaufpreises erfüllt. Es obliegt dann den jeweiligen Depotführenden Instituten, den von der EX geleisteten Kaufpreis dem jeweiligen Verkäufer gutzuschreiben.

5.4 Kosten der Annahme des Angebots

Die Annahme des Angebots über ein Depotführendes Institut mit Sitz in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland oder über eine deutsche Niederlassung eines ausländischen Depotführenden Instituts soll für die Anleiheinhaber frei von Kosten und Spesen sein. Zu diesem Zweck gewährt die EX den Depotführenden Instituten mit Sitz in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland oder den deutschen Niederlassungen ausländischer Depotführender Institute eine Ausgleichszahlung. Die von ausländischen Depotführenden Instituten erhobenen Kosten und Spesen sowie etwa anfallende ausländische Steuern sind von den das Angebot annehmenden Anleiheinhabern zu tragen.

5.5 Steuern

Die EX empfiehlt den Anleiheinhabern, vor Annahme dieses Angebots gegebenenfalls eine ihre persönlichen Verhältnisse berücksichtigende steuerliche Beratung zu den steuerlichen Folgen der Annahme des Angebots einzuholen.

6. Verbreitung und Annahme des Angebots im Ausland

6.1 Verbreitung des Erwerbsangebots außerhalb der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Die Veröffentlichung, Versendung, Verteilung oder Verbreitung dieses Erwerbsangebots und anderer mit dem Angebot im Zusammenhang stehender Unterlagen außerhalb der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und den genannten afrikanischen Ländern kann gesetzlichen Beschränkungen unterliegen. Die Versendung, Verbreitung oder Verteilung dieses Erwerbsangebots oder sonstiger mit diesem Angebot im Zusammenhang stehender Unterlagen durch Dritte (z. B. die Depotführenden Wertpapierdienstleistungsunternehmen) außerhalb der Bundesrepublik Deutschland ist deshalb von Seiten der EX nicht gestattet, wenn und soweit das gegen anwendbare ausländische Bestimmungen verstößt oder von der Einhaltung behördlicher Verfahren oder der Erteilung einer Genehmigung oder weiteren rechtlichen Voraussetzungen abhängig ist und diese nicht vorliegen.

6.2 Annahme des Angebots außerhalb der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Dieses Angebot richtet sich ausschließlich an Anleiheinhaber der Anglo Irish Bank plc mit Wohnsitz oder Sitz in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und den genannten afrikanischen Staaten.

Die EX weist darauf hin, dass die Annahme des Angebots außerhalb der Bundesrepublik Deutschland anderen Rechtsordnungen als denen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und auch rechtlichen Beschränkungen unterliegen kann. Anleiheinhaber, die außerhalb der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in den Besitz dieser Erwerbsangebot gelangen und / oder das Angebot außerhalb der Bundesrepublik Deutschland annehmen wollen, wird empfohlen, sich über die jeweils anwendbaren Rechtsvorschriften zu informieren und diese einzuhalten.

Soweit ein Depotführendes Institut mit Sitz in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland oder eine deutsche Niederlassung eines ausländischen Depotführenden Instituts gegenüber ihren Kunden Informations- und Weiterleitungspflichten im Zusammenhang mit diesem Angebot hat, die auf den für das jeweilige Depotverhältnis anwendbaren Rechtsvorschriften beruhen, ist das Depotführende Institut gehalten, die Auswirkungen ausländischer Rechtsordnungen auf diese Pflichten eigenverantwortlich zu prüfen.

Dubai, im Oktober 2010

EXchange Investors NV

frankscheunert@web.de

Das Angebot wird im Bundesanzeiger veröffentlicht werden.


http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2010-11/18405512-erwerbsangebot-und-aufruf-an-alle-anglo-irish-bank-bondholder-der-2014er-tier-2-anleihe-016.htm

Freitag, 29. Oktober 2010

Buyback of Anglo bonds in jeopardy as debt costs soar

By Donal O'Donovan

Friday October 29 2010

There was more bad news from the bond markets yesterday with the revelation that the Anglo Irish buyback could be in trouble and cause another surge in the cost of government debt.

Holders of 43pc of Anglo Irish subordinated bonds said they would oppose the plan to swap €1.6bn of bonds for new government guaranteed debt worth 20 cent in the euro.

Most observers believe the real agenda is to raise the offer above the current 20 cent level.

A bondholder meeting will be held in a number of weeks and needs a double majority for the deal to be passed. Two- thirds of the bondholders must attend the meeting and a 75pc majority must be met to push through the deal. But market sources say a deal is far from certain.

If the deal goes ahead bondholders will automatically vote to pay dissenters just 1 cent per €1,000 of bonds.

One warned against being so tough with the group.

"Ireland's best friends (and worst enemies) right now are hedge funds because no real money account is investing a cent in the country," he said.

The risk of taking a loss if the exchange goes ahead, however, is key to its likely success. If members of the bondholder group fear others could break ranks the sensible option is to break ranks first.

Unicredit strategist Alexander Plenck said: "They would have to completely trust each other on the day or will end up backing the deal."

The mix of opportunistic hedge funds and vulture funds trying to block the deal makes it even harder to maintain discipline, said another source who is involved in the transaction.

If bondholders vote against the plan, or abstain in big enough numbers, the deal will fail and the debt will remain in place. Voting gets under way in the middle of next month.

Yesterday, Anglo Irish chairman Alan Dukes said the bank would not negotiate with the bondholders.

Traders

The bonds changed hands at prices between 20 cents and 23 cent each yesterday, above the price being offered in the buyback. Traders said the volume of trading was very low with few investors committing new money.

Credit strategist Brian Barry of Evolution Securities said the Anglo Irish news was not behind the increase in the cost of government debt yesterday.

The yield demanded by investors for holding Irish debt rose to 7pc early in the day before the European Central Bank stepped in to buy bonds for the first time in two weeks.

The ECB action stabilised prices. The cost rose on the back of bad news from Portugal and Greece about their budgets.

- Donal O'Donovan

Irish Independent

Donnerstag, 28. Oktober 2010

Anglo Irish bondholders seek to block offer

By Matt Scuffham

DUBLIN, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Bondholders in nationalised Anglo Irish Bank are seeking to block the lender's proposed exchange of 1.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of subordinated debt at a discount of 20 cents per euro.

Anglo, brought under state control last year, is forcing bondholders that don't take up the offer to accept just 1 cent per 1,000 euros to redeem their floating notes due 2014, 2016 and 2017.

But a consortium of investors who hold about 690 million euros of lower Tier 2 debt are planning to vote against the offer.

'In an astonishing move, Anglo Irish is attempting to strongarm noteholders to vote in favour of the exchange offer by threatening to eliminate minority dissenting noteholders' rights to repayment of monies loaned by them to Anglo Irish,' Brown Rudnick, a law firm representing the noteholders, said in a statement issued late on Wednesday.

'The noteholders believe Anglo Irish's proposal is inconsistent with principles of fair and equal treatment of creditors.'

Ireland faces a bill of up to 50 billion euros to purge its banks of soured property loans and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said subordinated bondholders in Anglo Irish and other nationalised lender Irish Nationwide would have to make a contribution towards that bill.

Analysts at Glas Securities in Dublin have estimated that Dublin's bill for bailing out Anglo Irish would be cut by 1.65 billion euros if there was a 100 percent takeup of the debt swap and a repurchase of more junior Tier 1 debt also announced this month.

The bondholder meetings to approve the exchange must have a minimum attendance of holders of 66 percent of the notes, three quarters of whom must agree to the changes in order for it to pass.

Subordinated paper in both Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide have been trading at discounts of around 70 to 80 percent, reflecting impending losses.

The noteholders consortium had made several unsuccessful attempts to meet with Anglo Irish, Brown Rudnick said.

'This is unprecedented and provides for unequal treatment of the minority. We sincerely wish to meet with Anglo Irish to discuss a fair and consensual resolution,' said Louise Verrill, restructuring partner at Brown Rudnick.

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2010-10/18378824-anglo-irish-bondholders-seek-to-block-offer-020.htm


Bondholders finally faced down by Lenihan -- just ask Abramovich

Thursday October 28 2010

'WE are not negotiating.' With the kind of bluntness only the Dutch can summon up, Anglo Irish Bank's chief financial officer Maarten van Eden has shown subordinated bondholders in the nationalised bank what the future looks like.

It is a world of discounts, shared pain and creditors' meetings and, from the perspective of the bank and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, it is all going swimmingly so far.

Anglo is offering to exchange €1.6bn of subordinated debt for new bonds at a rate of 20 cents in the euro as the nationalised lender seeks to generate capital and lighten the load on the citizenry, who are already on the hook for Anglo to the tune of €7,500 per person.

While Lenihan's critics think he should go well beyond just subordinated bondholders and grapple with creditors further up the line, that is a non-runner, especially when you are planning to borrow €20bn a year from these lenders to plug a chasm between spending and tax receipts.

But the move against subordinated bondholders in Anglo and Irish Nationwide is progressing well and there is little sign of elevated funding costs arising from the decision for Irish banks or the sovereign.

What is pushing Irish bond yields out wider this week is not concern over the legal rights of subordinated bondholders in just two non-clearing banks, but concern over the size of the budgetary adjustment required for 2011.

In fact, the move against subordinated bondholders may have provided something of a booster for the sovereign, indicating that the capital requirement for Anglo is going to be less, rather than more, as a result of the move.

The bondholders themselves have hired a legal firm and are wailing about the way creditors are being treated, while depositors are being protected.

Of course, not all creditors are being hit with such a savage exchange offer and debt holders in most of the entire Irish financial system are not in any way having their holdings eroded.

The public were curious to find out who was taking the losses on the subordinated bonds? Most observers expected to see the pages of the 'Financial Times' dripping with pathos as little old ladies from small German towns came forward to talk about their pensions being ruined because of the haircut being imposed on their investments.

But instead, in a publicity coup Lenihan's staff could never have conceived of themselves, Russian oligarch billionaire Roman Abramovich stepped forward to talk of his deep sense of loss at the plans to impose discounts.

His asset management company Millhouse has talked of reputational loss for Ireland from the move.

That may be the case, even though Irish Nationwide was until a year ago a private commercial company with not a cent of equity from the Irish government.

The financial world is full of investment punts of various hues.

But any rational person who bought a deeply subordinated bond in Irish Nationwide was taking what could mildly be described as an investment risk. A risk that should be insured for too, through a credit default swap.

Irish Nationwide has been massively loss-making since 2008 and even at that stage everyone knew its property exposures were truly terrifying (of its €10.4bn loan book in 2008, €8.1bn was accounted for by commercial property).

But apparently holders of subordinated bonds in the building society, like Millhouse, were expecting some new "strategy'' that would re-invigorate the property-laden company and protect all its creditors.

This was even though the society had become a national corporate governance joke, with its current management team claiming only two people used to manage its entire UK loan book.

So far, the jilted bondholders have filed no legal papers and produced no convincing argument why they should get back par value.

It has taken him a long time but Lenihan has finally picked a row with bondholders he has every chance of winning.

How do you convince $82 trillion (€60 trillion) worth of investors you are doing the right thing?

With great difficulty , the Government is finding out.

The depth and scale of the global bond market is such that it does not speak with one voice.

Attempts by the Government to "win over'' the bond market may be doomed to failure because the market is so atomised and consists of millions of different investor types, all with different financial world views.

There's no pleasing the markets

Some think the Irish Government should front-load its deficit reduction plan, some think tax rises are the best approach to closing the gap, others believe expenditure reductions are better.

The Government may have foolishly believed that winning over the bond market was all about showing your bona fides on spending cuts. But, in fact, 10-year government bond yields rose by 30 basis points last week when a total adjustment of €7bn was first mentioned.

"There is this central question of where does growth come from,'' one concerned bond trader said this week.

One must have a little sympathy for the Government on this.

If you give bond markets what they apparently demand -- drastic cuts in spending -- then those markets start to worry about the impact on growth.

If you delay and soft pedal on the cuts to protect growth, they then switch to worrying about the deficit.

It would drive one to drink.

Irish Independent

Anglo creditors ‘gambling’ on improved debt-swap offer

Thursday October 28 2010

Anglo Irish Bank bondholders plan to block a proposed debt exchange that imposes losses of more than €1.3bn as they seek to force the nationalised lender to improve the offer.

Creditors holding a €690m “blocking position” of notes will vote against the deal worth 20pc of their €1.6bn of securities, according to a statement from Houlihan Lokey which is advising investors.

The extra yield demanded to hold Irish 10-year bonds over German debt rose by about 20 basis points to 443 basis points today, approaching the record 449 basis points last month.

The Government faces a bill of more than €50bn to prop up Irish banks and is seeking to ensure the losses of lenders it owns outright are shared with subordinated noteholders.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has said he will legislate to allow the Government to impose penalties on subordinated creditors while making senior investors whole.

“Bondholders are gambling the government is willing to pay up and doesn’t want to use the draft legislation to impose losses,” said Brian Barry, an analyst at Evolution Securities Ltd in London.

Imposing losses “has a knock-on impact on other banks, it creates uncertainty and raises the question of what the Government is willing to do in extreme situations.”

The Government also owns Irish Nationwide Building Society, where bondholders are also opposing enforced losses.

Ray Gordon, outside spokesman for the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), which manages certain bank oversight functions for the state, declined to comment. An official at the Department of Finance also wouldn’t comment.

Confidence undermined

Opposition to the proposals is undermining confidence in the creditworthiness of the Government and the nation’s other banks.

Credit-default swaps on Irish sovereign debt jumped 21 basis points to 465, the highest level in a month, according to data provider CMA. Contracts on Allied Irish Banks bonds rose 8.5 basis points to 629.5.

Credit-default swaps insuring €10m of Anglo’s subordinated debt for five years fell to €6.98m in advance and €500,000 annually from €7.07m upfront, according to CMA.

Anglo Irish subordinated bonds due 2014 rose 0.71 cent to 20.8 cents on the euro, according to pricing data compiled by Bloomberg.

Exchange penalty

The lender has said that bondholders who don’t accept the terms of the debt exchange will be given 1 cent per 1,000-euro face amount.

The challenge by investors risks ending up in court, especially if no consensus is reached and new legislation is introduced, said Simon Adamson, an analyst at CreditSights Inc in London.

“If bondholders are determined to challenge this, it could be quite a long, drawn-out situation,” he said.

“This goes against the general thrust of regulation right now, which is all about getting bondholders to share losses. There doesn’t seem to be much upside, except for the lawyers.”

The exchange of the lower Tier 2 notes will generate a capital gain of about €1.26bn that the bank can use to bolster its capital ratios, according to analysts at Barclays Capital in London.

A repurchase of more-junior so-called Tier 1 debt that was also announced this month, will generate a gain of €347m, the analysts said.

The bondholder meetings to approve the exchange must have a minimum attendance of holders of 66pc of the notes, 75pc of whom must agree to the changes, according to JPMorgan, which is managing the offer.

Martha Kavanagh, an outside spokeswoman for Anglo, said the bank was unable to comment while the exchange offer was open.

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/anglo-creditors-lsquogamblingrsquo-on-improved-debtswap-offer-2398727.html


Mittwoch, 27. Oktober 2010

Große Gläubigergruppe will Regierungsangebot ablehnen

Anglo Irish Creditor Group Plans to Decline Subordinated Debt-Swap Offer


A group of Anglo Irish Bank Corp.’s creditors will decline to participate in a debt swap proposed by the nationalized lender, said Houlihan Lokey, an investment bank that is representing the noteholders.

Anglo Irish this month offered to exchange 1.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of subordinated debt for new bonds at 20 cents on the euro to generate capital. The group of noteholders, which hold about 690 million euros of lower Tier 2 debt, plan to vote against the offer, Houlihan Lokey said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday.

“Anglo Irish is attempting to strong-arm noteholders to vote in favor of the exchange offer by threatening to eliminate minority dissenting noteholders’ rights to repayment of monies loaned by them,” the statement said. The group includes pension-plan money managers, insurers, retail investors and secondary purchasers, and Brown Rudnick LLP is providing it with legal advice, it said.

Ireland faces a bill of more than 50 billion euros, about 22 percent of 2009 gross domestic product, to prop up lenders and wants to ensure the burden is shared with subordinated bondholders. The Oct. 21 exchange offer came after Finance Minister Brian Lenihan vowed to “address the issue” of junior bondholders taking a loss on investments in nationalized banks.

Billy Murphy, an outside spokesman for Dublin-based Anglo Irish, couldn’t immediately be reached outside office hours.

According to Anglo Irish’s proposal, the lender would offer bondholders that don’t take up the debt swap 1 cent per 1,000- euro face amount to redeem their floating-rate lower Tier 2 notes due 2014, 2016 and 2017. The new securities would be due 2011 and guaranteed by the government.

Quelle: Bloomberg


Anglo Irish Bank: Zum Ablauf der Abstimmungen

Conquering Anglo Irish CDS

CDS-watchers — mark your calendars.

November 23 is the first possible date that Anglo Irish Bank’s sub-debt exchange could trigger a credit event for CDS written on the bonds. That is, the ‘liability management exercise’ will elicit lump-sum payments for protection buyers.

The exchange is expected to set-off CDS on both the sub- and senior bonds since it entails “a reduction in the amount of principal, or premium payable at maturity or at scheduled redemption dates.” This is a restructuring event under Isda definitions, (Section 4.7, ii) as long as it satisfies the so-called Multiple Holder Obligation requirement. That is, there must be more than three holders of the obligation and the obligation must require at least two thirds of holders agree to the potential restructuring.

According to Depository Trust & Clearing Corp data there are currently 974 contracts, or $420m net, sub- and senior CDS written on Anglo Irish debt. But the first trigger — that November 23 one — would be on Lower Tier 2 bonds due in 2017.

Weiterlesen...


Samstag, 23. Oktober 2010

Besitzer von Bankanleihen in Unruhe

Für Regierungen ist der Umgang mit den Bankanleihen ein heikler Balanceakt. Den Anleihenmarkt zu vergrätzen, können sie sich nicht leisten. Doch der Druck, auch die Gläubiger an der Überwindung der Bankenkrise zu beteiligen, wächst.

Von Marcus Theurer und Philipp Krohn, London/Berlin

19. Oktober 2010

Roman Abramowitsch ist sauer auf Dublin. Der russische Milliardär und Eigner des Londoner Erstliga-Fußballvereins FC Chelsea hat über sein Investmenthaus Milhouse Geld in Anleihen irischer Banken investiert, doch Abramowitsch und andere Anleihengläubiger des irischen Immobilienfinanzierers Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) und der Albtraumbank Anglo Irish können sich immer weniger sicher sein, in welcher Höhe sie ihr Geld zurückbekommen. Abramowitsch will die irische Regierung, die beide Krisenkonzerne übernommen hat, notfalls verklagen. „Wir sind entschlossen, unsere Position mit allen rechtlichen Möglichkeiten zu verteidigen“, kündigte Milhouse an. Auch andere Investoren formieren sich zum Widerstand.

Für die irische Regierung ist der Umgang mit den Bankanleihen ein heikler Balanceakt. Einerseits wächst angesichts harter Sparmaßnahmen der Druck der Bevölkerung, auch die Anleiheinvestoren für die Bankenkrise zur Kasse zu bitten. Andererseits kann es sich Finanzminister Brian Lenihan nicht leisten, den Anleihenmarkt zu vergrätzen, denn die irischen Banken und der Staat sind darauf angewiesen, dass ihnen internationale Investoren auch weiterhin Geld pumpen.

Weiterlesen...



Donnerstag, 21. Oktober 2010

Anglo Irish Offers Bondholders 20 Cents on Euro in Debt Swap

Anglo Irish Bank Corp. offered to exchange 1.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of subordinated debt at a discount, paying in new bonds at a rate of 20 cents on the euro as the nationalized lender seeks to generate capital.

Anglo Irish will ask bondholders that don’t take up the exchange offer to accept just 1 cent per 1,000-euro face amount to redeem their floating-rate notes due 2014, 2016 and 2017, the Dublin-based lender said in a statement today.

The new securities will be due 2011 and guaranteed by the government, according to the statement.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-21/anglo-irish-offers-exchange-of-2014-2016-2017-notes-for-new-2011-bonds.html

Veröffentlichung der Regierung:

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201010211528467992U


Mittwoch, 20. Oktober 2010

Anglo Irish to buy back subordinated debt at discount

DUBLIN, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Nationalised lender Anglo Irish Bank will buy back its subordinated debt at a big discount, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said on Wednesday.

'I understand that the management at Anglo will be carrying out an exercise to repurchase the debt at a very substantial discount,' Lenihan told parliament.

(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins)

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2010-10/18292286-anglo-irish-to-buy-back-subordinated-debt-at-discount-020.htm


Donnerstag, 14. Oktober 2010

Anglo-Irish-Gläubiger wollen nicht für Rettung zahlen

New York (Reuters) - Eine Gruppe von Gläubigern der angeschlagenen Anglo Irish Bank wehrt sich einem Bericht zufolge dagegen, sich an den Rettungskosten für das Geldhaus zu beteiligen.

Die Investoren besäßen rund 500 Millionen Euro oder rund ein Fünftel der risikoreichsten Papiere, berichtete das "Wall Street Journal" am Dienstag auf seiner Internetseite unter Berufung auf eine mit dem Vorgang vertraute Person.

Weiterlesen...

Mittwoch, 13. Oktober 2010

Honohan warns on 'risky' action against Anglo bondholders

CENTRAL BANK governor Prof Patrick Honohan said it would be “highly risky” to take action against senior bondholders at Anglo Irish Bank such as buying back debt at a lower price.

“To take any aggressive action would be highly risky,” Prof Honohan said at an event in Philadelphia in the US yesterday.

The Government “is not minded to do that”, he said.

The Irish head of financial regulation, Matthew Elderfield, said last week the Government could enter a “liquidity management exercise” with senior bondholders of Anglo Irish.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said a day later that the Government had “no intention” of imposing losses on those bondholders through legislative measures.

Prof Honohan said dealing with senior bondholders was “complicated” because under Irish law they “stand equally with depositors”.

He also said things went “in a bad direction” for Ireland, and “we’re now turning this around and coming out of it”.

Prof Honohan said Ireland had the highest budget deficit of any euro-area nation, and the Government does not face any easy decisions in its 2011 budget.

The Central Bank governor said the Government would have to replace the revenue lost in the recession and the housing slump with “income tax, value-added-tax and so forth’.

“It has to be done,” said Prof Honohan.

However, he said that he does not see pressure building to raise Ireland’s low corporate tax rate in order to help tackle the budget deficit.

“A lot of people have been talking about there being pressure; so far I don’t actually see that pressure being made explicit,” said Prof Honohan, who is also a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council.

“I think there is definitely a general view in Ireland: why change this system, it works reasonably well,” he said in response to a question following his speech at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank.

Prof Honohan said the period of converting the Irish economy ended in 2000, after which it grew based upon unsustainable lending to property development and construction firms. – (Bloomberg, Reuters)

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2010/1013/1224280973188.html


Freitag, 8. Oktober 2010

Anglo Irish has 90pc of liabilities 'set to mature'

By Emmet Oliver Deputy Business Editor

Friday October 08 2010

Almost 90pc of Anglo Irish Bank's liabilities mature within the next 12 months and retaining deposits is the key challenge facing the bank, Canada's largest ratings agency has claimed.

About €67bn of the bank's funding is maturing over the next year, representing 87pc of liabilities coming due. The liabilities come in the form of inter-bank deposits, customer deposits, bonds and subordinated debt, said a note to clients from Toronto-based agency DBRS.

It said the new Anglo funding bank would face "significant challenges in attracting and retaining deposits'' as this bank would not be offering any other banking services or products. The agency also speculated that the EU Commission might restrict the kind of interest Anglo can offer.

The Government here still regards Anglo as a "systemically important bank'', but not as critically important as before, said the company. The support of the Government would allow the bank time to split itself in two, into an asset recovery bank and a funding bank. The asset recovery bank would continue to depend on central bank funding and government support.

Anglo's franchise was "materially and permanently impaired'' the agency said, and the bank had limited earning power with no return to profit in the "near or medium term".

"DBRS sees Anglo Irish's earnings-generation ability as irrevocably damaged. The lack of new lending activity, a declining balance sheet and elevated funding costs will constrain the ability of the bank to generate income,'' the note said.

The Canadian company said that the quality of Anglo's non-NAMA loans was viewed as "extremely weak'' and the NAMA exercise itself would only remove 41pc of the bank's loans.

"Managing the impact of credit losses in the run-off non-NAMA portfolio is the primary challenge of Anglo Irish,'' it said.

"Given the proposed split of the bank and the uncertainty regarding the funding bank's ability to attract and gather deposits, DBRS sees Anglo Irish as remaining reliant on support from the Irish Government and central bank facilities for funding though the run-off of the asset recovery bank,'' the company said.

- Emmet Oliver Deputy Business Editor

Irish Independent

Donnerstag, 7. Oktober 2010

Anglo, INBS bondholders to form new action group

By Emmet Oliver and Donal O'Donovan

Thursday October 07 2010

Subordinated bondholders in Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide are working on a plan to set up an action group to oppose government plans to apply a 'haircut' to their investments, the Irish Independent has learned.

A London law firm has been consulted already on setting up the group, and several financial analysts have also been asked to give their view. How many holders of Anglo and Irish Nationwide securities join the group will be watched closely on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Already, a firm linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has objected to the plan to ensure "burden sharing'' among subordinated bondholders. Legislation to allow this is being drafted by Attorney General Paul Gallagher.

Mr Gallagher is working the legislation that would put the taxpayer ahead of subordinated bondholders in the queue to be repaid as Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide are wound down.

"The obligation (to subordinated bondholders) would remain on the book, but the taxpayer would be given priority over the sub debt," Finance Minister Brian Lenihan told bond investors during a conference call on Friday.

Under the planned law, subordinated bonds will not be cancelled. The law would insert a claim by taxpayers for the cost of their support ahead of the subordinated bondholders of the two banks.

The scale of the Government's support makes it highly unlikely taxpayers will ever be paid back in full, so the chances of subordinated bondholders being repaid would then be remote. The minister reiterated that senior bonds would not be affected and that the legislation would not apply to other Irish banks.

- Emmet Oliver and Donal O'Donovan

Irish Independent


Mittwoch, 6. Oktober 2010

Fitch stuft Irland runter

Für das finanziell angeschlagene Irland kommt es noch dicker: Fitch senkt das Rating des Euro-Landes auf "A+" von bislang "AA-". Der Ausblick ist negativ. Aber dabei bleibt es wohl nicht. Auch Moody's spielt mit dem Gedanken, das Irland-Rating abzusenken. Die Experten sehen die irischen Sparpläne mit Unsicherheiten behaftet.

Irland bekommt eine schlechtere Bonitätsnote von Fitch. Die Ratingagentur teilte mit, sie habe ihre Einstufung auf "A+" von bislang "AA-" gesenkt. Als Grund führten die Experten die immensen Kosten des Landes für die Rettung seiner angeschlagenen Banken an, die höher seien als erwartet.

"Die Herabstufung von Irland spiegelt die außergewöhnlichen und höher als erwarteten fiskalischen Kosten im Zusammenhang mit der Rekapitalisierung der irischen Banken wider, vor allem für die Anglo Irish Bank", so die Fitch-Begründung. Wegen des unsicheren Wirtschaftsausblicks und den ungewissen mittelfristigen Konsolidierungsanstrengungen sei der Ausblick als "negativ" eingestuft worden. Die Experten sehen insbesondere die Sparpläne der Regierung und die Konjunkturaussichten Irlands mit Unsicherheit behaftet.

Die Regierung in Dublin hatte diese vergangene Woche auf bis zu 50 Milliarden Euro beziffert. Ministerpräsident Brian Cowen will nächsten Monat einen Vier-Jahres-Plan vorstellen, mit dem das außerordentlich hohe Haushaltsdefizit angegangen werden soll.

Die irische Zentralbank hatte Ende des vergangenen Monats mitgeteilt, allein der Betrag zur Rettung der taumelnden Anglo Irish Bank steige auf fast 30 Milliarden Euro, im schlimmsten Fall sogar auf knapp 35 Milliarden Euro. Das irische Staatsdefizit verdreifacht sich damit 2010 auf den europaweiten Rekordwert von mehr als 30 Prozent der Wirtschaftsleistung.

Weiterlesen...


Anglo Irish Debt Swaps May Pay Out on Burden Sharing

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Banks and hedge funds may have to pay out on Anglo Irish Bank Corp. debt insurance after the government insisted holders of its riskiest bonds share the pain of a $47 billion bailout.

The cost of credit-default swaps protecting Anglo Irish’s subordinated notes has more than doubled since Sept. 1 on speculation of a payout. Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said last week that holders of the bank’s 2.45 billion euros ($3.4 billion) of junior notes must take on some of the “burden” of the rescue, raising the prospect of the swaps being triggered.

Ireland is pledging more cash for Anglo Irish after nationalizing the lender in January 2009 as its bad loans mounted following the collapse of a decade-long real-estate bubble. The bill represents as much as 21 percent of Ireland’s economic output, the most for a euro-region bank rescue since the start of the credit crisis three years ago.

“It’s almost guaranteed that there will be an event of default” that will cause the swaps to pay out, said Michael Hampden-Turner, a credit strategist at Citigroup Inc. in London. “It’s almost inevitable that the junior bondholders won’t get paid.”

Net $390 Million

There are 674 credit-default swap contracts insuring a net $390 million of Anglo Irish’s senior and subordinated debt, according to Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. data. It now costs 5.2 million euros in advance and 500,000 euros annually to insure 10 million euros of the bank’s junior bonds for five years, implying a more than 82 percent probability of default, according to data provider CMA.

Credit-default swaps pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent when a borrower fails to adhere to its debt agreements.

The Irish government pledged as much as 11.4 billion euros to support Anglo Irish on Sept. 30, on top of the 22.9 billion euros it has already pumped in since seizing the lender in January 2009. Lenihan said that, while senior bondholders will be paid in full under the bailout, legislation is being prepared to “address the issue” of junior bondholders taking a loss on their investments.

Ireland will retain the option of asking investors to sell their holdings back at a “very deeply discounted” price, according to Michael Torpey, head of banking at the National Treasury Management Agency, established in 1990 to manage assets and liabilities for the government.

Possible Downgrade

The cost of bailing out Ireland’s banking system has also weighed on the nation’s credit quality.

Moody’s Investors Service placed the nation’s rating on review for possible downgrade yesterday after the government in Dublin pledged as much as 50 billion euros to save the country’s banks. Any downgrade to Ireland’s Aa2 rating will “most likely” be by a single level, Moody’s said in a statement.

Credit-default swaps tied to Irish debt have risen 115 percent since the beginning of August, climbing to 427 basis points, according to CMA. The extra yield investors demand to hold 10-year Irish government bonds instead of benchmark German securities rose to a record 4.54 percentage points on Sept. 29, and was at 4.12 percentage points today, Bloomberg data show.

The Anglo Irish rescue package will cost every man, woman and child in Ireland as much as 7,500 euros. The bailout of Germany’s Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, in absolute terms Europe’s most expensive bank collapse, cost less than 5 percent of the nation’s GDP of 3.4 trillion euros in guarantees and cash injections, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

‘Lessons of Crisis’

“Anglo Irish is one of the lessons from the crisis,” said Simon Adamson, a banking analyst at CreditSights Inc. in London. “A bank may not be obviously systemically important, yet because it’s a bank that makes it too big to fail.”

The price of Anglo Irish’s junior debt has fallen in past months on speculation holders would lose money in a rescue. The bank’s Tier 2 floating-rate bonds due 2016 have dropped to about 23 cents on the euro, from as high as 42.75 cents in May, according to composite prices compiled by Bloomberg. Tier 2 notes rank above so-called Tier 1 debt in a default.

If the Irish government fails to repay Anglo Irish’s junior notes, investors would then need to ask the New York-based International Swaps and Derivatives Association, which administers the credit-swap market, to declare an event of default that would cause the insurance contracts to pay out.

Game Changer

After the U.K. government nationalized Bradford & Bingley Plc in 2008, it changed the rules to allow the troubled lender to defer interest on its subordinated debt without that legally constituting a default. Its failure to pay still triggered credit-swaps protecting all the Bingley, England-based bank’s bonds in July.

“If the terms of the debt are changed to the detriment of the holder, then that usually constitutes a restructuring event” and triggers credit-default swaps, said Arup Ghosh, a strategist at Barclays Capital in London. “If buyers of default swap protection are subsequently not made whole on their investment, it could damage the credibility of the market.”

--With assistance from Joe Brennan in Dublin and Paul Dobson in London. Editors: Michael Shanahan, Paul Armstrong

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-06/anglo-irish-debt-swaps-may-pay-out-on-burden-sharing.html

Samstag, 2. Oktober 2010

Anglo LT2-Anleihenbesitzer wollen gerichtlich vorgehen

By Donal O'Donovan and Emmet Oliver

Saturday October 02 2010

Subordinated Anglo Irish Bank bondholders are threatening to block the restructuring of the bank if the Government imposes haircuts, but lawyers say they are facing an uphill struggle.

Posturing from both sides is more focused on agreeing the price of a debt buyback than the legal issues, sources told the Irish Independent.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is planning legislation allowing the Government to impose haircuts on these bondholders. But London-based hedge funds, who spoke to the Irish Independent yesterday, on condition of anonymity, said the situation was "messy" and holders of sub debt were talking to their legal teams.

The funds claim the Government's argument rests on the notion that without state capital the bonds would be worthless. But the funds are claiming this argument would also apply to senior debt holders and to select them in isolation for haircuts would be discriminatory.

But a government spokesman confirmed that a buyback could still go ahead in the meantime. He said lenders to the Government were told on a conference call with the minister on Friday that a buyback of Anglo sub debt was still on the cards.

The move to change the law provides a stick for the Government to encourage bondholders towards the carrot of a cash payment for agreeing to hand back bonds. That would be a simpler, and possibly cheaper, process than forcing them out through legislation.

Control

Under bond market rules, if the Government gains control of a majority of the bonds any remaining bondholders would be forced to accept a deal.

Hedge funds are trying to outstare the Government and are threatening legal action, but a number of lawyers say their case is weak. They said the move is aimed at getting a better price to go away.

One capital markets lawyer, who asked not to be named, said he opted not to take the bondholder case because it had little chance of success.

The lawyer works for a US firm and specialises in advising hedge funds. He said he was receiving queries on the issue from subordinated debt holders in both Anglo and Irish Nationwide.

In his view, the Government was in a game of chicken with holders of subordinated bonds, each trying to maximise their bargaining position ahead of a buyback. He said the State had by far the stronger hand.

- Donal O'Donovan and Emmet Oliver

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/anglo-bondholders-square-up-to-government-over-possible-haircuts-2361791.html


Freitag, 1. Oktober 2010

Hedge funds hold Ireland to ransom over Anglo Irish Bank bail-out

, 23:56, Thursday 30 September 2010

Hedge funds are holding the Irish government to ransom over its 30bn (£26bn) bail-out of one of the country's biggest lenders, Anglo Irish Bank (Dublin: CKL1.IR - news) .

The investors are attempting to force the Irish authorities to pay them more for the debt they hold in Anglo Irish Bank and say if their demands are not met they could trigger a default crisis.

The London and US-based hedge funds are fighting moves to pay them no more than current market prices for their holdings of junior debt in Anglo and are understood to be prepared to take the Irish government to court.

Anglo junior debt is trading in a range of 23 to 25 cents in the euro and the investors are thought to be looking for a payout of 35 to 40 cents. However, the authorities are unwilling to offer a premium to the market price, according to a source close to the Irish government.

The hedge funds in turn argue that the government has no legal right to force them to accept a haircut on the value of their holdings.

The dispute centres on £2bn of Tier 2 bonds sold by Anglo, which the hedge funds argue are governed by English law. They claim that for investors to be legally obliged to accept a lower than face value payout, the bank's senior debt which the government has said it will pay back in full must already be in default.

While small compared to the total size of the Irish rescue package, the dispute could have disastrous consequences for the bail-out.

If the hedge funds were to press their case, Ireland could be required to put Anglo into insolvency, which could ultimately mean that depositors would have to make use of the country's guarantee scheme to get their money back.

One banker with knowledge of the discussions said the legal opinion his firm had received was that the Irish government was in the wrong.

Robin Creswell, a senior bond specialist at fund manager Payden & Rygel, said investors trying to force the government's hand were playing a risky game.

"They might have a good legal claim, but when you are dealing with a government in the position of the Irish that will go to great lengths to prevent default, you are entering a very complex situation."

The cost of bailing out the Irish banking system has so far cost the state 44bn, and this year the country's budget deficit is projected to equal 32pc of GDP 10 times the amount permitted under European Union guidelines.

Speaking on Thursday, Irish finance minister Brian Lenihan was clear that while junior debt holders would make a "significant contribution" to the cost of the bank bailouts, depositors and senior debt holders would be protected.

Mr Lenihan attempted to calm market fears over the effect the cost of the bailout would have on the country and said the government would be publishing a four-year budget plan in November on how it intends to cut the deficit.

Ireland is not the only eurozone country coming under pressure from the market, with Moody's yesterday cutting the credit rating of Spain over fears of weak economic growth and the government's ability to reduce the deficit.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-funds-hold-ireland-to-ransom-over-anglo-irish-bank-bail-out-tele-770d5bdb5006.html


Donnerstag, 30. September 2010

Minister’s Statement on Banking 30 September 2010

Statement der Regierung unter:

http://www.finance.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=6515&CatID=1&StartDate=1+January+2010&m=n

der interessanteste Absatz:

Burden sharing by holders of subordinated debt in Anglo Irish Bank
Much has been said about senior debt obligations in Anglo Irish Bank. The position is that senior debt obligations rank equally with deposits and other creditors under Irish law. I have no plans to change this position. There is, therefore, no question of seeking to impose losses on holders of such senior debt in Anglo or indeed in any other credit institution in the State through any legislative measures. Any alternative strategy as advocated by some creates a significant risk of jeopardising the banking system’s and indeed the State’s access to international debt markets and cannot be countenanced on that basis.

The principle of appropriate burden sharing by holders of subordinated debt, however, is one with which I agree. As can be seen from the figures outlined above, the losses in the bank are substantial and it is right that the holders of Anglo’s subordinated debt should share the costs which have arisen.

In keeping with this approach, my Department in conjunction with the Attorney General is working on resolution and reorganisation legislation, which will enable the implementation of reorganisation measures specific to Anglo Irish Bank and INBS which will address the issue of burden-sharing by subordinated bondholders. The legislation will be consistent with the requirements for the measures to be recognised as a re-organisation under the relevant EU Directive in other EU Member States.

I expect the subordinated debt holders to make a significant contribution towards meeting the costs of Anglo.

--------------------------------


sieht ganz danach aus als möchte man mit der Drohkulisse einer geplanten Gesetzesänderung die Inhaber der nachrangigen Bonds zur Annahme des geplanten Rückkaufangebots bewegen. Die Anleihen sind heute stark unter Druck und notieren bei 25%


Anglo-Rechnung kostet Iren 29,3 Mrd. Euro

Total Anglo bill '€29.3bn'

30/09/2010 - 07:13:22
The Central Bank has said the final bill for Anglo Irish Bank means another €5bn is needed from the taxpayer, bringing the total to €29.3bn.

However a further €5bn again could be needed in a worst case scenario set out by the bank this morning.

Effective nationalisation of AIB is also to take place.

The Central Bank says once Anglo is split into an asset recovery bank and depositors bank the capital required from the taxpayer is €5bn.

This brings the 'final' bill to €29.3bn, but the bank said losses under a severe hypothetical scenario could be another €5bn.

The worst-case scenario assessment brings the possible final tally close to the €35bn estimate from ratings agency Standard and Poors.

"The assessment we have published today of the costs of Anglo’s restructuring reflect careful analysis of information from a range of sources," said Financial Regulator Matthew Elderfield.

" It also includes a projection based on a prudent hypothetical stress scenario which gives guidance as to the likely upper bound of those costs."

Meanwhile the Government is to pump another €3bn into AIB after the bank suffered a greater than expected haircut on NAMA loans.

The Government is also to shortly announce that less loans from AIB and Bank of Ireland are to go to NAMA - up to now anything over €5m qualified - but this will increase to €20m.

Meanwhile it has also been announced that changes are on the way in AIB management.

Group Managing Director Colm Doherty has had his contract terminated and is to leave the bank before the end of the year.

Dan O'Connor is to step down as executive chairman in the coming weeks.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said he hoped the actions announced this morning will give confidence to markets.

In a statement this morning Minister Lenihan said it was "an urgent and immediate priority to reinforce international market confidence in our ability and commitment to restore our banking system to health'.

The Government is now expecting a very substantial spike in Ireland's general government deficit this year, as a result of the support for the banks - bringing it to almost 32% of GDP.

Minister Lenihan confirmed this morning that a four-year budgetary plan, incorporating the plans to meet European requirements on reducing that deficit, will be published in early November.

Opposition parties criticised the Government's handling of the entire Anglo bailout.

Labour's deputy leader, Joan Burton, described today's announcement as Irelands "black Thursday".


http://www.breakingnews.ie/business/total-anglo-bill-293bn-475695.html#ixzz10zreu3Xm

Mittwoch, 29. September 2010

Investors to get 'the definite picture' of Anglo Irish

DUBLIN, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Ireland's foreign minister confirmed on Wednesday the government will unveil the final bill for winding down Anglo Irish Bank on Thursday and reiterated a commitment to getting the budget under control by 2014.

'You will get the definite picture tomorrow,' Micheal Martin said of Anglo Irish in an interview on national broadcaster RTE.

(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins) Keywords: IRELAND ECONOMY/ANNOUNCEMENT


http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2010-09/18095679-investors-to-get-the-definite-picture-of-anglo-irish-020.htm

Dienstag, 28. September 2010

Irische Regierung will machbaren Plan für Anglo Irish Bank vorlegen

Ireland to present manageable Anglo Irish plan -PM

DUBLIN, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Ireland will soon present a manageable plan to deal with Anglo Irish Bank and it will do all that is needed to build the confidence of investors, Prime Minister Brian Cowen said on Tuesday.

Asked if record high borrowing costs will mean Ireland will soon be shut out of markets and will need to access a euro zone rescue fund, Cowen said Ireland had already raised enough funds to see it through the middle of next year.

'We are determined to do what's necessary to achieve international confidence and build domestic confidence,' Cowen told reporters.

(Reporting by Andras Gergely; editing by Carmel Crimmins)

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2010-09/18081656-ireland-to-present-manageable-anglo-irish-plan-pm-020.htm

Senior Anleihen-Inhaber haben nichts zu befürchten

Senior bondholders won't share Anglo debt burden

By Brendan Keenan and Maeve Dineen

Tuesday September 28 2010

THE Government will not ask senior bondholders to share the burden of Anglo's massive debts with taxpayers, the Irish Independent has learned.

This emerged last night after intense debate in government circles as to whether such a deal could be done with those who hold the most secure form of debt in the bank -- known as senior bondholders.

But concerns that any move not to pay in full would damage the country's credit rating -- and even the standing of the wider eurozone system -- won the day.

The Government has always insisted that senior bondholders have the same legal rights as depositors. Ministers believe it would be impossible to negotiate even a voluntary reduction of debt because bondholders would want depositors to share the loss.

On Thursday evening the governor of the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator will give their opinion on the scale of losses at Anglo, based on a comprehensive trawl by the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).

Last night, they were still working on the final total. It is now expected that they will give two figures for losses at the bank. The lower will be based on losses on Anglo loans still to be moved to NAMA being similar to those already transferred; the higher one on a "worst case" scenario where losses are greater.

Anglo may need as much as €7bn of additional capital in a worst-case scenario, according to reports.

Financial markets are not convinced that the State can carry the burden of both the deficit on the public finances and the costs of winding down Anglo in an orderly fashion.

Thursday's figure is intended to reassure markets, but opposition politicians and other government critics are likely to zero in on the higher figure.

The Government remains determined that there will be no default or re-negotiation on senior Irish bank bonds even where they are not guaranteed by the State. An offer to buy back €2.4bn of junior debt for around €500m is likely to be made when the debt comes out of guarantee tomorrow.

"Two hundred US banks have failed and not a single senior bondholder lost out," an experienced observer said last night.

Holders of junior "subordinated" debt receive a better interest rate but would receive little or nothing if a bank went into liquidation.

Risk

Their Anglo loans are valued in the market at just 20c in the euro.

Credit-rating agency Moody's yesterday upped the possibility of some loss to senior lenders by applying different ratings to Anglo deposits and senior bonds.Moody's Investors Service yesterday downgraded Anglo Irish's junior debt by six steps and cut the senior debt by three steps.

It said that when Anglo was split and deposits moved into a holding bank, there would be a greater risk that bondholders of the bad bank would not be paid in full.

"While Moody's considers the likelihood of the Government not supporting this debt to be very small, this risk has been reflected in the three-notch downgrade," the agency said.

"It's all about whether Ireland can afford the bailout of Anglo Irish," said London-based banking analyst Tom Jenkins of Jeffries International.

"There are also the other banks that need cash and all the wider political and economic issues the country has."

- Brendan Keenan and Maeve Dineen

Irish Independent

Montag, 27. September 2010

Lenihan warned of dangers in renegotiating with Anglo lenders

By Brendan Keenan

Monday September 27 2010

OFFICIALS are still warning Finance Minister Brian Lenihan on the dangers of any attempt to re-negotiate terms with lenders to Anglo Irish Bank -- who could have a call on the bank's assets if they are not repaid.

The officials fear that even talking to holders of "senior debt", who are among the first to be entitled to their money back in the event of a bank failure, could increase speculation about a default -- where guaranteed debts are not repaid.

However, the Government is expected to approve a deal with holders of junior debt, who could lose everything if Anglo was wound down with only its own assets to pay its debts. They are already getting as little as 20 cent in the euro by selling Anglo junior debt on the market.

Yesterday, opposition politicians reacted to a report in 'The Sunday Times' on negotiation plans by saying the Government was embarked on a U-turn in its guarantee of lenders who hold Anglo Irish bonds.

The report said Mr Lenihan would sanction talks with senior bondholders who hold €4bn of the €14bn in senior Anglo debt and whose guarantee expires this week.


Weiterlesen...

Moody`s senkt Rating für Anglo Irish Bank Anleihen

Moody's Just Downgraded Anglo Irish Debt By Three Notches, While Warning Of MORE Government Support


And the hits keep on coming for Anglo Irish.

Now Moody's has downgraded the bank's non-backstopped debt (via FT Alphaville)

Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded the senior debt rating of Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Limited (“Anglo Irish”) by three notches to Baa3/Prime-3 from A3/Prime-1, and is maintaining it on review for possible downgrade. At the same time, Moody’s has downgraded the dated subordinated debt held by Anglo Irish by six notches to Caa1 from Ba1 and has assigned a negative outlook…

...

“Moody’s expects a continued asset quality deterioration in the loan book of Anglo Irish that will require further government support for the bank’s liabilities,” says Ross Abercromby, Vice President and lead analyst for Anglo Irish at Moody’s. The rating agency believes that the novation of the deposits into the FB could increase the government’s options to share the burden of such support with other creditors that remain in the ARB. Without an explicit government guarantee for senior unsecured note holders, Moody’s believes that the ratings for these instruments need to incorporate this greater marginal risk.


Quelle: http://www.businessinsider.com/moodys-just-downgraded-anglo-irish-debt-by-three-notches-while-warning-of-more-government-support-2010-9#ixzz10iznurW6

Samstag, 25. September 2010

Wie gehts weiter mit den nachrangigen Anglo Irish Bank Anleihen?

Guarantee end to throw up options on Anglo debt

By Donal O'Donovan

Saturday September 25 2010

Markets like order, and they like information. At the moment we are providing neither and it's costing us dearly.

The end of the State's guarantee of €2.4bn of Anglo's subordinated bonds at the end of the month creates an opportunity to address both issues. This week, holders of the bonds were ringing around London advisers for any steer on where a possible removal of the guarantee leaves them and what could be coming down the line.

The expiration of the guarantee raises the possibility of an Anglo default. A default on unguaranteed Anglo bonds must not be confused with a national default.

But because we still have no legislation in place to manage a bank in default, an unexpected default today could prompt Anglo depositors to remove funds faster than the bank can cover them (a run).

It would also sharply increase the cost of borrowing for the other Irish banks -- just as their debt falls due to be refinanced and could easily spiral into a financial crisis on top of the current economic one.

The taxpayer would have to step in, and start the whole sorry process again.

But there are some smart alternatives. The Government has already indicated it plans a "liability management exercise" for Anglo debt. That is market chatter for cutting debt without going through a default.

Paper exchange

It could try to convince holders of subordinated (junior) bonds to exchange their paper for a smaller number of more senior bonds. Senior lenders might be uncomfortable with that, because it increases the amount of paper at their level. Junior bondholders might go for it, but it's hardly compelling and doesn't really reduce debt.

The easiest way to cut debt is to buy Anglo subordinated (junior) bonds close to the current trading price of 20c in the euro.

A buyback involving a willing buyer and a willing seller would reduce debt without the lender being actually seen to default.

The €2.4bn of subordinated bonds could be bought and cancelled for less than €500m.

Describing the difference as a profit would go too far, but it does limit the downside.

Subordinated (junior) bondholders would welcome it, they benefit because they get cash for bonds on a limited if any market. In a buyback they can probably expect a price somewhere above where the bonds trade today, though not far above, and in the overwhelming number of cases bondholders "book" a profit by selling even if they sell at a loss. That's because they "mark to market", raising and decreasing the book value of their bonds daily or weekly. Everybody wins?

Not quite. Senior bondholders would be unhappy. With €16.5bn of guaranteed senior debt outstanding they fear they too are ultimately at risk. They'd rather not see today's cash leak down the capital structure for fear it won't be around tomorrow. The simple answer is to extend the buybacks into the senior debt, offering market prices to willing sellers of any Anglo bond.

But taxpayers should also have concerns. A buyback that is not part of a coherent plan easily becomes good money after bad, and with a gaping hole in the national finances- €500m is real money.

Buybacks

Buybacks have been done for the banks before. Legally they are uncontroversial, but a really credible buyback requires a stick as well as a carrot. The end of the guarantee provides that, but only if the Government moves to introduce bank resolution legislation quickly.

Legislation setting out clearly how to transfer a bank to lenders without undermining the financial system would reassure markets that the bank system had a solid base while reminding investors that the guarantee was not open-ended. Without new banking legislation, as long as the State is solvent it remains the sucker of last resort, and everybody knows.

A debt-cutting buyback combined with a real plan to restore credibility to the banks, backed up with legislation, would show the wider markets that we are moving out of crisis mode. That could restore some semblance of normality to both the bank system and the national risk profile, and save us the bones of €2bn while we're at it.

Donal O'Donovan was the former debt-restructuring specialist at Thomson Reuters before recently joining the Irish Independent business desk

- Donal O'Donovan

Irish Independent

Donnerstag, 23. September 2010

Regierung plant Anleihen-Rückkauf

Anglo Irish Debt Buyback Is Said to Be Considered by Ireland's Government

Ireland’s government is considering options for Anglo Irish Bank Corp., including allowing the company to buy back subordinated debt, a person familiar with the situation said.

Anglo Irish, the Dublin-based lender taken over by the government last year, said as recently as Sept. 8 that the bank had sought approval from authorities to repurchase subordinated debt. Anglo Irish generated more than 1.5 bilion euros of profit from previous buybacks, said the person who declined to be identified because no final decision has been made.

The government is in talks with the European Commission on Anglo Irish, the person said.

Bloomberg


Interessanter Artikel zu Irland im Tagesanzeiger

Talfahrt ins Grüne

Von Margrit Sprecher

Die Iren in der Wirtschaftskrise: Auf ihren Balkonen pflanzen sie Broccoli. Die Hunde schläfern sie ein, weil das Futter zu teuer ist. Und den Brautstrauss kaufen sie bei Aldi.

«Wie nur», staunte ein Leser der «Irish Times», «ist es uns gelungen, als kleines Land mit vier Millionen Einwohnern Schulden wie eine Supernation zu machen? Mit dieser Summe könnten wir zweimal die Olympischen Spiele durchführen, vier Monate lang den Krieg in Afghanistan und im Irak bestreiten oder drei Teilchenbeschleuniger bauen. Oder wissen wir bereits genug über schwarze Löcher?»

Der Bösewicht Nummer eins

Das schwarze Loch trägt einen Namen: Anglo Irish Bank. In wenigen Monaten hat die drittgrösste Bank Irlands 26 Milliarden Euro Staatsgelder verschlungen, und das ist nur der Anfang, wie Finanzexperten versichern. Dabei sah eben noch alles so rosig aus. Unter den Bankangestellten gab es mehr Millionäre als auf den Bermudas, und auch die Kunden scheffelten Geld. Gerne erzählte Anglo-Irish-Boss Sean FitzPatrick, wie ihn ein Unbekannter auf der Strasse angesprochen und ihm für das Ferienhaus in Spanien gedankt hatte.

Heute ist aus dem Wohltäter FitzPatrick Irlands Bösewicht Nummer eins geworden. Sein Pub erteilte ihm Lokalverbot, um Unruhe unter den Gästen zu vermeiden. Im Golfklub drücken sich die früheren Freunde mit einem gemurmelten «Tut mir ja so leid für dich» rasch an ihm vorbei. Und die Presse titelt höhnisch: «Eine weitere dramatische Woche im Leben FitzPatricks», und zeigt ihn im Golfdress vor einem seiner sechs Anwesen. Seit er auch persönlich Konkurs angemeldet hat, gehören die Häuser der Gattin.

Das halbe Land ist bankrott

Bankrott ist nicht nur FitzPatrick. Bankrott ist das halbe Land. 300 000 Häuser und Wohnungen stehen leer. An manchen Strassen gibt es so viele «For sale»-Tafeln wie Briefkästen. Unzählige Bauruinen starren aus schwarzen Fensterhöhlen auf die grünen Wiesen. 15 Prozent aller Iren haben ihren Job verloren und suchen, wie zu den schlimmsten Hunger- und Massenauswanderungszeiten, Arbeit in England oder Amerika. Und als wäre das alles noch nicht genug, verkündet das irische Radio täglich neue Hiobsbotschaften und Firmenschliessungen.

Weiterlesen...

Dienstag, 21. September 2010

Default würde englische Gerichte beschäftigen

Any Anglo default would have to be dealt with in English courts

By Emmet Oliver

Wednesday September 22 2010

Any future default on bonds at Anglo Irish Bank would have to be adjudicated upon in the English courts and not in Ireland, the Irish Independent has confirmed.

The Government is not planning to default on any Anglo bonds, but the idea has been floated by third-level academics and some opposition politicians in recent weeks.

Instead of defaulting, the Government is expected to give the bank the go-ahead to do a bond buyback with some classes of bondholders -- but who precisely is not yet clear.

Bonds issued by Anglo over recent years are covered by English law, so if bondholders were to take legal action they would petition the English courts.

English law treats the rights of bondholders differently to Ireland. In recent cases in England between issuers and bondholders, the courts have ordered the issuer not only to pay missed coupons (interest payments), but also the legal costs incurred in taking the action in the first place.

Guarantee

A large number of so-called 'legacy' bonds issued by Anglo will no longer be covered by the blanket guarantee from next week when it is due to run out.

However, it may be extended and other bond issues are covered by the Eligible Liabilities Guarantee (ELG) which runs until the end of the year.

It has been reported that the Government will allow Anglo to launch a bond buyback as part of a restructuring plan agreed with the EU Commission.

This would allow Anglo to offer less than face value to bondholders and it could then book a gain on the difference between the face value and the price is it offering.

So far the only buybacks have been on subordinated debt and there have been no moves to carry out such an exercise with senior bonds.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has said he is totally opposed to any default on Anglo bonds. A voluntary buyback arrangement is not considered a default, but it must be entirely voluntary, allowing the bondholder to refuse the offer and hold the bond until maturity.

- Emmet Oliver

Irish Independent



Montag, 20. September 2010

Regierung schlägt Anleihen-Rückkauf vor

Government proposes Anglo bond buyback
By Cliff Taylor

The government is expected to launch a bond buyback for Anglo Irish Bank in the coming weeks, as part of a restructuring plan agreed with the EU Commission.

The buyback, which will reduce the bill for taxpayers, will offer some bond holders in the new Anglo asset recovery vehicle the option of a bond, or a term deposit, in the new funding bank, at a significant discount.

While it will go some way to reducing the taxpayers’ bill, any amount recovered from bondholders will pay only a small portion of the overall cost, expected to approach €30 billion.

The reason for offering bondholders alternative investments, as opposed to cash, would be to avoid an immediate cash payout by the exchequer.

The government has already announced that Anglo is to be split into two sections - an asset recovery vehicle, to wind down loans not transferring to Nama, and a funding bank for deposits.

The bondholders’ liabilities will initially move to the asset recovery vehicle.

While full details of the Anglo plan have still to be agreed, sources have said that the government will seek a significant discount from subordinated bondholders, who have investments of more than €2 billion in Anglo.

These bondholders may be offered the option of transferring at a steep discount to a bondholding or a term deposit in the funding bank, or remaining as bondholders in the asset recovery vehicle, with no guarantee of getting anything back.

As this debt is trading at around 20 to 30 cent in the euro - and none of it will be covered by state guarantee after the end of this month - the government is likely to be able to recoup the bulk of the cash owed to these investors.

It is not clear whether the government will also offer buyback terms to higher-ranking bondholders - known as senior debt holders.

The government has been adamant that it will not default on these bondholders, but it could still offer to buy back the portion of Anglo senior debt invested before the September 2008 guarantee, around €4 billion. If it did so, then the discount on this would be much less.

The remainder of Anglo’s senior debt - about €10 billion - was issued under government guarantee in the last two years and is thus unlikely to be affected.

Last week, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny wrote to the EU competition commission saying there was, in his party’s view, ‘‘no sound legal or economic case for the Irish taxpayer to repay bond investors in Anglo Irish Bank following the expiry of the guarantee’’.

The letter made it clear that he was referring to those bondholders who invested before the September 2008 guarantee, both subordinated and senior debt holders.

Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore has also called on the government to negotiate with bondholders.

Senior government sources have pointed out that, while there was a general expectation of subordinated bondholders taking significant losses, any move to default openly on more senior debt would have serious consequences for the state’s ability to raise borrowings and for the ability of the other banks to roll over their debts.

Quelle: http://www.sbpost.ie/news/ireland/government-proposes-anglo-bond-buyback-51762.html