The FINANCIAL — ING Group announced today the launch of three separate exchange offers in Europe and tender offers in the United States of America, on a total of seven series of subordinated securities of ING entities with a total nominal value of approximately EUR 5.8 billion at current exchange rates.
The exercise is intended as a one-time opportunity to proactively address uncertainty regarding future call options on these capital securities, which are subject to approval by the European Commission.
ING offers holders an opportunity to exchange the subordinated debt securities subject to the exchange offers into new senior debt securities or to receive cash for the securities subject to the US tender offers, both at a premium to observable secondary trading levels at the time of launch. Because the exchange and tender offers are at a discount to nominal value given the current market conditions they satisfy EC requirements for burden sharing.
The offers will strengthen the quality of ING’s capital base through the creation of Common Equity Tier 1 capital when exchanging and tendering debt securities at a discounted price compared to the nominal value of the debt securities. ING also expects the offers to enhance the efficiency of ING’s capital base in anticipation of upcoming regulatory changes which will diminish the contribution of subordinated debt to regulatory capital going forward.
Any future decisions by ING as to whether it will exercise calls in respect of the offered debt securities that are not exchanged or tendered pursuant to the relevant exchange offer or tender offer will be taken on an economic basis. Other factors that ING will consider include prevailing market conditions, regulatory approval and capital requirements and any required authorisation from the European Commission.
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