Clifford Chance advised Volkswagen International Finance N.V. and Volkswagen AG in connection with the issuance of EUR 2.5 billion in hybrid bonds consisting of two tranches, a tranche with an aggregate principal amount of EUR 1.1 billion with a first call date in March 2022 and a tranche with an aggregate principal amount of EUR 1.4 billion with a first call date in March 2030.

 The joint lead banks advising Volkswagen were BNP Paribas, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The transaction involved the offering and placement of notes with a principal amount of EUR 1,000 each, initially to institutional investors with a subsequent offer period in which investors were able to sell on to retail investors based on a retail prospectus. The notes were listed on the regulated market on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and started trading on 20 March 2015.

The Clifford Chance team consisted of Partners Dr. George Hacket and Sebastian Maerker, Senior Associate Dr. Axel Wittmann and Associate Peter Vlasek (all Banking & Capital Markets, Frankfurt) supported by Partner Frank Graf, Counsel Jurgen van der Meer, Associates Bauke de Vries, Katja Busuladzic and Harm Hommes (all Banking & Capital Markets, Amsterdam) and Partner Uwe Schimmelschmidt, Counsel Olaf Mertgen (both Tax, Frankfurt) and Counsel Katia Gruzdova (Tax, Paris).