White & Case has advised Societe Generale as global coordinator, lead co-arranger, and dealer, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, and PKO Bank Polski as co-arrangers and dealers, and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg as dealer, on the establishment by PKO Bank Hipoteczny S.A., a subsidiary of PKO Bank Polski, of a EUR 4 billion international covered bond issuance program, and the issue of EUR 500 million covered bonds thereunder.
This is the first international program for the issuance of mortgage bonds under Polish law, as well as the first issue of Polish covered bonds on the international markets.
"We devised an innovative structure for covered bonds issued under the new Polish covered bond legislation," said Warsaw-based White & Case Partner Marcin Studniarek, who co-led the firm's deal team. "It allows PKO Bank Hipoteczny to issue covered bonds beyond the Polish market with direct access to the international clearing houses in a manner which allows them to be European Central Bank eligible."
The program was approved by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier in Luxembourg on September 28, 2016. The minimum denomination of mortgage bonds is EUR 100,000 and they can be issued under the program in any currency. Under the program, PKO Bank Hipoteczny issued EUR 500 million covered bonds, due June 24, 2022, on October 24, 2016. The terms and conditions of the covered bonds provide for listing of the first issue of on the Luxembourg and Warsaw stock exchanges.
The White & Case team advising on the transaction was co-led by Partners Marcin Studniarek (in Warsaw), David Barwise (in Singapore), and Jochen Artzinger-Bolten (in Frankfurt), with support from Warsaw-based Counsel Bartosz Smardzewski and Associates Michał Jadwisiak and Katarzyna Grodziewicz and London-based Associate Eduardo Barrachina.
Image Source: media.pkobp.pl
