Allen & Overy Paris advised Citigroup, as deal co-ordinator, and the other joint bookrunners, in relation to the hybrid bond issue of €2.23 billion fixed to floating rate undated deeply subordinated notes, issued by Axa, the French insurer, in the context of the financing of the acquisition of Winterthur.
The issue, carried out under Axa’s Debt Programme, consisted of one Euro and two Sterling tranches; the Euro and one of the Sterling tranches featured an issuer call at year 10 with the other Sterling tranche having an issuer call at year 20.
This transaction not only satisfied the requirements for Moody’s Basket D treatment, it was the first
Tier 1 issue by a French entity to feature the alternative coupon settlement mechanism as a means of satisfying deferred interest payments.
The Allen & Overy Paris International Capital Markets team involved in this transaction consisted of Dan Lauder (Partner) and Xabier de Beristain Humphrey (associate) on the English Law side, and François Poudelet (Partner) and Hervé Ekué (senior associate) on the French Law side. Siamak Mostafavi (Partner) and Mathieu Vignon (senior associate) handled the tax aspects of the deal.
Axa was advised by Linklaters.
Partner Dan Lauder commented:
“We were delighted to have the opportunity to call upon our expertise in French Tier 1 issues and help bring this transaction to a successful conclusion within an extremely challenging time-frame.”
For further information, please contact Dan Lauder (dan.lauder@allenovery.com), François Poudelet (francois.poudelet@allenovery.com) on +33 (0)1 40 06 54 00 or Isabelle Epp (isabelle.epp@allenovery.com) on +33 (0)1 40 06 54 28.
