PrivatBank has to send response to trustee request to London court by Dec 6 - member of bondholders' committee
According to the rules of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), PrivatBank (Kyiv) has by December 6 to respond to the statements made by the trustee on the bank's eurobonds for $175 million with maturity on February 28, 2018 and those worth $200 million regarding initiating arbitration proceedings due to violation of the terms of the equities circulation.
"Under the LCIA rules, PrivatBank has until December 6, 2017 to file a response to the request for arbitration filed by the trustee," Pala Assets investment company, one of the members of the eurobond holders' committee, told Interfax-Ukraine.
The investment company said loan agreements signed within the eurobond issues between the issuer of eurobonds, UK SPV Credit Finance Plc (Britain), and PrivatBank are governed by English law.
In December 2016 the National Bank of Ukraine nationalized PrivatBank and purported to "bail-in" the loans created by the loan agreements, i.e. cancel them and replace them with equity in PrivatBank of de minimis value. Since then, PrivatBank has failed to make payments of interest and principal in respect of the loan agreements as they fell due. Accordingly, the trustee's position on the basis of legal advice received is that as the loan agreements and the notes are governed by English law the purported bail-in can have no effect on their validity or enforceability.
Under the arbitrations, the trustee seeks payment of all sums due under the notes.
The trustee has instructed a team from Dechert LLP led by partner Adam Silver to represent it in the arbitrations, counsel for the trustee is Vernon Flynn QC of Essex Court Chambers.