Oschadbank secures some Eurobond holders' agreement to ease covenants

MOSCOW. Sept 23 (Interfax) - Oschadbank has secured the agreement of investors in its Eurobond issue maturing in 2023 to change a number of lending terms, specifically to suspend the covenant requiring the Ukrainian state bank to maintain capital adequacy for the duration of martial law in Ukraine and six months thereafter.

However, a meeting of the holders of Oschadbank Eurobonds maturing in 2025 that was scheduled for September 22 failed to gather a quorum, so it has been rescheduled for October 7, the bank said in an exchange statement.

The agreement of the holders of both bond issues is needed to change the terms of the bonds.

Oschadbank noted that the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) decided back on February 25 that it would not impose sanctions against banks for violating capital requirements, including minimum capital adequacy requirements.

The bank is also asking bondholders to approve the postponement of publication of the report for 2021 and payment of dividends in the amount of UAH318.117 million rubles.

Another Ukrainian state bank, Ukreximbank secured the agreement of its Eurobond holders in June to suspend the covenant on maintaining capital adequacy for the duration of martial law and six months thereafter.

In 2015, Oschadbank restructured Eurobonds maturing in 2016 and 2018 totaling $1.2 billion. The restructuring called for extending the duration of the bonds and changing the interest rate. The maturity of Eurobonds totalling $700 million was extended to March 10, 2023, with the rate raised to 9.375%, and the maturity of bonds totalling $500 million was extended to March 20, 2025 with the rate going up to 9.625%.

The amortization of the 2023 Eurobonds called for 60% of the principal to be paid on March 10, 2019 and the remainder in eight equal semiannual instalments. Holders of the 2025 Eurobonds were supposed to get 50% of the principal on March 20, 2020 and the rest in ten equal semiannual instalments.