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Austrian 'bad bank' bond buyback due Tuesday, terms largely unchanged

Published 02/09/2016, 18:46
Updated 02/09/2016, 18:50
© Reuters.  Austrian 'bad bank' bond buyback due Tuesday, terms largely unchanged
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By Francois Murphy and Kirsti Knolle

ALPBACH, Austria (Reuters) - The Austrian province of Carinthia's offer to buy back the bonds of "bad bank" Heta Asset Resolution [HAABI.UL] will be published on Tuesday and its main points are the same as those in an earlier outline deal with creditors, Austria and Carinthia said.

The offer, a test case for new European rules aimed at ensuring a failed bank's losses are shared with creditors, would draw a line under Austria's biggest financial debacle since Word War Two, if enough creditors accept it.

Carinthia and Austria's Finance Ministry, which has agreed to lend the province the money for the deal, said on Friday they were confident the offer would be accepted by the two-thirds majority required for it to be binding on all creditors.

"We will succeed ... in freeing our province from an enormous threat resulting from the past," Carinthia's Governor Peter Kaiser said, referring to the fact that a deal would lift the threat of insolvency hanging over the province.

Austria's government reached an agreement in principle with creditors in May on the terms of the offer to buy back Heta bonds at a discount to their original face value of around 11 billion euros ($12 billion).

Carinthia guaranteed that face value when the bonds were issued by local lender Hypo Alpe Adria, which has since collapsed. Heta was formed to wind down Hypo's assets, and Carinthia says it cannot afford to honour the guarantees fully.

Under the outline deal reached in May, Carinthia would offer senior creditors 75 percent of their bonds' original face value and junior creditors 30 percent.

The overall repayment rate to creditors is seen at about 90 percent if they also accept a specially issued bond guaranteed by Vienna with a maturity of at least 13.5 years - depending on the interest rate situation - as a sweetener.

Creditors also have the option of selling that bond back at cash value to Carinthia after holding it for at least 60 days, according to a parliamentary explanation of a law passed in July to pave the way for the buyback offer. Taking up this option would likely result in a lower overall repayment rate.

"The offer's main economic points were made known in the course of the publication of the MoU (memorandum of understanding) in May 2016 and remain valid," Austria's Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The offer will run from Tuesday to Oct. 7, Carinthia said.

Heta's bondholders include Pimco (DE:ALVG), Commerzbank (DE:CBKG), Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (DE:PBBG) and Dexia Kommunalbank .

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