As we continue to focus on growing and furthering our support of Italian corporate clients we have found great interest in our services as bondholder representative or rappresentante comune under the Italian Civil Code. Although similar in many respects to a bond trustee under English law, there are some notable differences to our duties and responsibilities.
Unlike a bond trustee who's functions are wide ranging and generally revolve around a fiduciary duty to the investors; the bondholder representative does not have the same rights or powers and generally serves to facilitate and administer bondholder meetings. Typically meetings are held to pass resolutions, such as amendments to the terms and conditions of the bonds, discuss various appointments and changes to various roles and other broad issues that would be of common interest to bondholders.
With the Italian market continuing to reopen since the crisis, across both the conventional and structured markets, more deals requiring this role are likely to come to market. Market support has come in various forms such as the Government promotion of ‘minibonds’ (bonds tailed to the needs of SMEs), which aims to boost competitiveness and improve access to badly needed funding. This together with recently announced plans to clean up the outstanding EUR180bn* of non-performing loans intends to encourage bank lending by removing non-performing assets from bank’s balance sheets.
As a complete provider of corporate trust services, U.S. Bank is pleased to provide assistance where necessary. “As an established trustee and agent |
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for Italian deals we are increasingly asked to act as the rappresentante comune” said Emma Hamley, VP Business Development.
“We act in this capacity on a variety of deal types from High Yield bonds to Project Finance transactions and our team has an in-depth understanding of the duties and responsibilities involved”.
U.S. Bank is a leading provider of corporate trust and agency services across the Italian market including mortgage and asset backed securities, CLNs, CLOs, corporate and high yield bonds. Our London-based Italian speaking team has built strong relationships with local originators, counsel, servicers and corporate service providers, helping deliver the expertise necessary to ensure a smooth closing and efficient on-going deal process.
If you are an Italian issuer, arranger or advisor we would be happy to provide a further overview of our services and how we can assist. Contact us today to hear more. |
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