Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises Všeobecná úverová banka, a.s. on the first syndicated Slovak covered bond transaction

Clifford Chance advised the issuer Všeobecná úverová banka, a.s. (VUB), a Slovak subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo, in connection with the update of its EUR 5 billion covered bond programme and its inaugural syndicated EUR 500 million issuance listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

The transaction represented a landmark for the covered bonds market in Slovakia, as it was the first syndicated issue of covered bonds under new regulation that was aimed primarily for international institutional investors. It was also the largest issue of a similar type of securities in the country's history and the investors' interest has exceeded the expectations of the issuer and sent a strong signal to the market.

The Slovak-law team based in Prague was led by Stanislav Holec, senior associate, who was assisted by Andrej Havko, junior associate, with continuous support of Vladimír Rýlich, senior associate.

The English-law team based in Milan was led by Filippo Emanuele, partner, with day to day support from Jonathan Astbury, senior associate.

Clifford Chance Luxembourg provided regulatory advice in connection with the securities listing.

"It has been a pleasure and valuable experience for all of us to work with the Clifford Chance team. They demonstrated enormous effort, esteemed dedication, vast experience and know-how for the entire period of their service. We really appreciate their highly professional attitude, flexibility and problem-focused approach in each and every respect.” commented Mr. Andrej Zeher, in-house legal counsel from VUB, on the outstanding results of the transaction.

"We are happy that we were able to contribute to the success of this landmark transaction. The flawless multi-office effort is in line with our strategy of bringing valuable and efficient advice to our clients" commented Filippo Emanuele, co-head of the finance and capital markets practice in Italy.