Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Eurobank Ergasias SA (Eurobank) as dealer and arranger on the update of one of its covered bond programmes and the increase in the nominal amount of covered bonds that may be issued under the programme from €3 billion to €5 billion. The assets under this covered bond programme are Eurobank’s Euro and Swiss Franc denominated residential mortgage loan assets.

In addition to this programme update, Eurobank issued a further €975 million of Euro denominated covered bonds out of the programme on 7 March 2016, taking the total outstanding amount issued under the programme to €1.025 billion.

The programme was originally established in 2010 and this was its first update since then.  In addition to updating the general disclosure, various changes had to be made to the prospectus and the terms of the transaction documents to recognise changes to European and Greek law and regulation since its establishment. 

David Shearer, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, comments:

“This was a challenging transaction that saw our team undertake a significant disclosure updating exercise, including incorporating a large number of regulatory changes since 2010.  We were very pleased to complete this transaction within our client’s desired timeframe. The transaction demonstrates the continuing resilience of the covered bond market.”

The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by partner David Shearer and included associates Alexandra Hunter, Isabelle Fox and Merel Klinkers. Tax advice was provided by partner Angela Savin and associate Harry Smith.  The trustee (Bank of New York Mellon) was advised by partner Farmida Bi and associate Mark Brighouse.