Ashurst has advised Rabobank on a new series of A$325m Puttable
Floating Rate Notes due 4 May 2017 under its $15bn Debt Issuance
Programme. The 12-month notice period for the put option is a
first in the Australian market.
The Ashurst team was led by Banking and Finance partner Paul Jenkins and special counsel James Morris with partner Teresa Dyson and senior
associate Bronwyn Kirkwood assisting with tax issues.
By exercising the put option, holders receive a new series of
one-year notes (in exchange for the early redemption of their
original 2017 notes), effectively "cashing out" their original
five-year notes with 12-months' notice. Holders also retain
their right to receive coupon payments for that period under the
new notes, matching the coupon they would have been entitled to for
that same period under their original five-year notes.
This option, which was structured so that it could be exercised
prior to the issue date of the notes (ie, on the trade date for the
notes) or on subsequent interest payment dates, was exercised on
the trade date in relation to an aggregate principal amount of
A$225m of the 2017 notes. In practice, this meant that
Rabobank issued a separate series of one-year notes to those
exercising investors on the same issue date as the 2017 notes.
According to Rabobank, the structure of the trade allows Rabobank,
as an issuing bank, to satisfy net stable funding ratio
requirements, while capturing demand from investors for
shorter-dated securities.
HSBC acted as Lead Manager and Computershare Investor Services
Limited acted as Registrar & Paying Agent.