Wolf Theiss DCM Team advises RBI, Erste Bank and RLB OÖ on various bond issues as well as RBI and Erste Bank on an exchange offer

Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) finalised the first benchmark sized issue of a green bond issued by an Austrian bank on 5 July 2018. The bond has an aggregate principal amount of EUR 500 million and a maturity of three years. The coupon is mid swap plus 40 basis points. The issue was preceded by an extensive roadshow through Europe. With orders in excess of EUR 1.3 billion, the orderbook was significantly oversubscribed. “The demand for green investment opportunities is growing continuously. With our Green Bond we can meet this demand and at the same time finance sustainable projects in our home market. The high demand and very positive investor feedback show that we are on a very good path with our sustainability initiatives”, Martin Grüll, CFO of RBI, said. The Joint Lead Managers were advised by White & Case, in particular by partner Jochen Artzinger-Bolten and associates Florian Fraunhofer and Peter Becker.

RBI as well as Erste Group relied on Wolf Theiss’ DCM team for an exchange offer of Best in Parking. The two banks advised the Best in Parking Group on an offer to exchange an existing bond and on placing a new issue of a fixed rate bond of the Best in Parking Group. On 7 June 2018, Best in Parking – Konzernfinanzierungs GmbH invited bondholders of the bonds issued in 2016 (ISIN: AT0000A1HQ07) to submit offers for exchange into new 3.5% p.a. fixed-interest bonds with a total nominal amount of up to EUR 60 million, unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Best in Parking – Holding AG (ISIN: AT0000A21LB6) maturing in 2025. The exchange period expired on 21 June 2018. Bonds with a principal amount of EUR 44 million in total were validly offered to Best in Parking – Konzernfinanzierungs GmbH for exchange into the new bonds, which were accepted by Best in Parking – Konzernfinanzierungs GmbH to this extent. Based on the exchange ratio of 1:1, new bonds with a total principal amount of EUR 44 million were issued as a result of the exchange offer. After execution of the exchange offer, the total outstanding nominal amount of the bonds issued in 2016 comes to EUR 76 million.

Best in Parking – Konzernfinanzierungs GmbH has also offered investors within the period of 22 to 29 June 2018 3.5% p.a. fixed-interest bonds with an aggregate principal amount of EUR 50,000,000, unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Best in Parking – Holding AG, with a tenor until 2028 (ISIN: AT0000A21LA8). The value date of this bond was 3 July 2018. Both bonds are listed in the Corporate Prime Segment of the Official Market of the Vienna Stock Exchange. Best in Parking relied on the expertise of the proven Erste Group Bank AG and Raiffeisen Bank International AG teams for both the exchange offer and the cash subscription offer.

Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich Aktiengesellschaft (RLB OÖ) also relied on the expertise of Wolf Theiss’ DCM experts when placing mortgage covered bank bonds with a fixed interest rate in the amount of EUR 500 million on the international capital market on 12 July 2018. The mortgage covered bank bonds with a fixed interest rate and the best rating (Aaa) by Moody’s have a tenor of 10 years and were placed with institutional investors. The good positioning of RLB OÖ on the international financial markets led to a widely diversified order book. Due to that and due to the covered bank bonds’ coverage by cover assets of RLB OÖ’s cover asset pool for mortgage covered bank bonds and the Aaa rating for these covered bank bonds RLB OÖ was able to set the coupon at 0.875 per cent per annum in the course of the pricing. The covered bank bonds are listed on the Official Market of the Vienna Stock Exchange and on the Regulated Market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The involved bank consortium was advised by Christoph Moser of the law firm Weber Rechtsanwälte GmbH.

Banking & Finance partner Alex Haas was supported by associate Nikolaus Dinhof in all transactions. In addition, associate Anna Nowodworska was part of the Wolf Theiss DCM team of the benchmark Green Bond of RBI.