PrivatBank sends response to trustee's request for arbitration in LCIA
PrivatBank (Kyiv) has sent a response to the notice of the trustee for eurobonds of the financial institution regarding the request for arbitration in the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) in violation of the terms of the equities circulation.
The report was posted on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Wednesday. The details of the response are not disclosed.
According to the report, PrivatBank has appointed Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan UK LLP to represent it.
The new trustee, Madison Pacific Trust Limited, is seeking legal advice regarding the contents of the response.
As was reported, under the nationalization of PrivatBank, its obligations to the British-based special purpose vehicle (SPV) that was the issuer of LPNs were subject to a bail-in procedure and were exchanged for additionally issued shares of the bank.
The matter concerns three issues of LPNs: those worth $175 million at a rate of 10.875% repayable on February 28, 2018, $200 million at a 10.25% repayable on January 23, 2018, of which $40 million was repaid in August 2016, and $220 million at a rate of 11% with maturity in 2021.
The issuer of the LPNs falling due in January and February 2018 was U.K.-registered UK SPV Credit Finance plc. The LPNs maturing in 2021 were issued via ICBC Standard Bank plc (the U.K.), however, during their restructuring, that debt was re-registered to UK SPV Credit Finance plc.
After PrivatBank was nationalized, the note issuer remained in its ownership.
Early October 2017, PrivatBank replaced the trustee for $175 million LPNs PrivatBank due on February 28, 2018 and $200 million LPN due on January 23, 2018. From October 3, 2017, Madison Pacific Trust Limited replaced Deutsche Trustee Company Limited (the U.K.).
The National Bank of Ukraine on October 27, 2017 approved the change of the structure of the PrivatBank banking group. SIA PrivatLizings (Latvia), PrivatOffice LLC (Dnipro), UK SPV Credit Finance plc and Ukraine Mortgage Loan Finance No.1 plc (the U.K.) were excluded.
Madison Pacific Trust Limited on November 2 sent an acceleration notice to the bank, seeking to early collect the debt. On November 8, Madison Pacific Trust Limited and UK SPV Credit Finance Plc submitted requests for arbitration to the LCIA.
