Anglo Irish bondholders blink, agree to burden-share

The results of Anglo Irish Bank’s first sub-debt exchange offer — the one aimed at inflicting ‘burden-sharing’ on bondholders — are out. And holders of the 2016 notes involved have agreed to swallow Anglo’s discounted offer — despite all that talk of a bondholders’ revolt.

From Friday’s statement:

The Bank hereby confirms that the Meeting was quorate, and the 2016 Notes Purchase Resolution was passed. Therefore, the Bank confirms that paragraph 31(2) of the Final Terms dated 19 June 2006 relating to the 2016 Notes is hereby deleted in its entirety with immediate effect, and accordingly the precondition to the 2016 Notes Exchange Offer described in the Consent and Exchange Offer Memorandum under “The Exchange Offers – Conditionality of the 2016 Notes Exchange Offer” is satisfied.

Holders of 2016 Notes may therefore (subject to the offer and distribution restrictions set out in the Consent and Exchange Offer Memorandum) submit Exchange Instructions in respect of the 2016 Notes from (and including) 22 November 2010 up to the 2016 Notes Expiration Deadline (4.00 p.m. (London time) on 20 December 2010).

The second meeting of the Holders of the 2016 Notes to vote on the 2016 Notes Call Proposal (as defined in the Consent and Exchange Offer Memorandum) is scheduled to be held at approximately 5.15 p.m. (London time) on 22 December 2010.

As we’ve mentioned before — this is a rather smartly structured deal.

The offer comes with a stick — in this case a ’sweeper’ clause. Acceptance of the Anglo offer also counts as a vote towards a special resolution that would let the bank ’sweep up’ any holdouts — offering them just one euro cent for every €1,000 worth of bonds.

It is, as the FT’s Jenn Hughes notes, one hell of a game of prisoner’s dilemma.

And it looks like the prisoners just ratted each other out.

And the fact that they’ve done so, also suggests that Anglo’s exchange structure might just have become a workable future burden-sharing template for bondholders.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/201...irish-bondholders-blink-agree-to-burdenshare/

Bondholders actually sharing the "burden". Must be something new in bondholder country....

 

Abramovich taking it up the butt