Rome, 3 November 2011
Cassa depositi e prestiti S.p.A (CDP) announces that today CDP Covered Bond Programme has been voluntarily terminated in accordance with the Conditions of the Programme.
As a consequence of the termination, no further Covered Bonds will be issued under the Programme, while the outstanding Covered Bonds will continue to be serviced in full, according to their respective maturities.
The rating agencies have confirmed that the voluntary Programme termination does not negatively affect the current ratings of the outstanding Covered Bonds.
The termination of the Programme, inter alia, involves the substitution of the segregated assets with a cash deposit of about Euro 5.335 billion on an account segregated in favour of the holders of the Covered Bonds as a guarantee for the obligations of CDP, in respect of principal and interest.
Such cash amount will be invested in Euro-denominated securities, as allowed by the Programme documentation and according to criteria approved by the Representative of Covered Bondholders, upon consultation with the rating agencies, among which are securities issued or guaranteed by supranational or sovereign entities or government agencies having the highest rating.
CDP Covered Bond Programme, listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, has been set up in 2004 for financing credit activity within the CDP Separate Asset Management System. It was aimed at issuing bonds, backed by segregated assets, up to a maximum amount of twenty billion euro.
Five series of covered bonds have been issued under the Programme, two of which - Series No. 1, for an amount of one billion euro, and Series No. 3, for an amount of two billion euro - have been reimbursed, respectively, in 2010 and 2009.
The outstanding series of Covered Bonds are: Series No. 2, for an amount of three billion euro, due on 31 January 2013; Series No. 4, for an amount of two billion euro, due on 31 January 2012; Series No. 5, for an amount of ten billion yen (equal to around euro 63.695.000), due on 31 January 2017.