Capital/Financing Update • Nov 11, 2016
Capital/Financing Update
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(incorporated as a joint stock company in the Republic of Italy)
Registered office: Via Antonio Nibby, 25, 00159 Rome, Italy
Rome Companies' Registry number: 03731380261
Share capital: EUR 825,783,990.00
of
(incorporated as a joint stock company in the Republic of Italy) ("ASPI" or the "Guarantor")
(the "Notes")
This explanatory note (the "Explanatory Note") has been prepared by the board of directors of Atlantia S.p.A. ("Atlantia" or the "Issuer") for the purpose of the meeting of the holders of the Notes (the "Meeting" and the "Noteholders", respectively) convened, pursuant to the provisions of Schedule 3 to the trust deed constituting the Notes dated 18 October 2011 (as amended and/or restated, the "Trust Deed") made between the Issuer, the Guarantor and BNY Mellon Corporate Trustee Services Limited as trustee (the "Trustee"), to be held on 14 December 2016 at 12.30 p.m. (CET) as a single call meeting, at the offices of the Issuer at Via Alberto Bergamini, 50 00159 Rome, Italy for the purpose of considering the matters set out under the heading entitled "Agenda" below and, if thought fit, passing the following resolution which will be proposed as an extraordinary resolution (the "Extraordinary Resolution") in accordance with the provisions of the Trust Deed.
To approve an Extraordinary Resolution in accordance with the provisions of the Trust Deed and the terms and conditions of the Notes attached thereto (the "Conditions"), in order to, among other things:
Terms defined in the Trust Deed, the Conditions or the Notice are used herein as so defined.
Notice of the Meeting (the "Notice") has been published on the website of the Irish Stock Exchange (www.ise.ie) and on the "Investor Relations" section of the Issuer's website (www.atlantia.it) and has been distributed to the Noteholders through the systems of Euroclear Bank S.A./N.V. and Clearstream Banking, société anonyme. An extract from the Notice will be published in Italian in "Il Sole 24 Ore" on 11 November 2016.
Atlantia is the holding company of (a) ASPI and its subsidiaries, which currently conduct the toll motorway business in Italy and (for the time being) abroad (the "Motorway Business") of the Atlantia group (the "Group") and (b) Aeroporti di Roma S.p.A. and its subsidiaries, which conduct the Group's airport management business.
For historical reasons, the funding of ASPI was originally conducted on an indirect basis through Atlantia. The Atlantia €10,000,000,000 Euro Medium Term Note Programme (the "Atlantia Programme") was established in 2004, and updated regularly until 2013. Until 2012, only publicly listed companies could issue notes without withholding tax being applicable. As a result, Atlantia funded ASPI through note issuances of Atlantia followed by inter-company loans from Atlantia to ASPI to transfer the proceeds of the notes to ASPI.
To avoid that the notes issued under the Atlantia Programme be structurally subordinated to ASPI's loan facilities, an upstream guarantee was provided by ASPI in favour of notes issued under the Atlantia Programme which ranked pari passu with ASPI's loan facilities and the other ASPI creditors.
In 2012, the Decreto Sviluppo (Decree no. 83 of 22 June 2012, as subsequently amended) permitted the issuance of debt securities by an unlisted Italian company such as ASPI.
In October 2014, ASPI established the ASPI Euro Medium Term Note Programme (the "ASPI Programme") and commenced issuing debt directly with no guarantee or other credit support from Atlantia. Since the establishment of the ASPI Programme, ASPI has issued notes in the aggregate principal amount of €1.9 billion. After 2013, Atlantia stopped updating the Atlantia Programme.
Atlantia has also established a new, separate, EMTN programme (the "New Atlantia Programme") in its capacity as the holding company of the Group. The New Atlantia Programme does not benefit from an ASPI guarantee, so notes issued thereunder will be structurally subordinated to all series of Private Notes and Public Notes (as defined below) both before and after the Transfer (as defined below).
Atlantia proposes to transfer from Atlantia to ASPI all six series of the notes issued under the Atlantia Programme on a private placement basis (the "Private Notes", which includes the Notes) for which Atlantia will require the consent of the holder(s) of all series of Private Notes, including the holders of the Notes, on the terms described herein (the "Transfer"). The Transfer forms part of Atlantia's plan to "ring fence" the debt of ASPI by 2025.
Atlantia's intention is to execute the Transfer by way of amendments to each series of Private Notes, including:
(iii) various other changes to align the terms and conditions of the Private Notes more closely with those of the notes issued recently under the ASPI Programme, including to the cross default provision.
The amendments will permit ASPI to have substantially the same terms and conditions across all notes after 2025.
The Transfer forms part of a wider debt reorganisation plan, which also involves the seven series of notes issued under the Atlantia Programme in public syndicated transactions (the "Public Notes") which would be transferred from Atlantia to ASPI through an issuer substitution process conducted under the terms of the relevant trust deeds (the "Public Notes Issuer Substitution"). This process also involves the provision of a guarantee from Atlantia but will not require noteholder consent.
It is the Group's policy that in future the financing of its Italian Motorway Business be entirely "ring fenced".
In order to achieve a "ring fenced" financing structure for ASPI, Atlantia would need to transfer all the notes issued under the Atlantia Programme (including the Notes) to ASPI without an Atlantia Guarantee.
Atlantia has concluded that immediate "ring fencing" is not possible. Consequently, Atlantia has decided to implement a "ring fenced" financing structure in two phases. In the first phase, which is expected to last until September 2025 (when all amounts are paid in respect of the final series of Public Notes still outstanding), Atlantia would transfer all Private Notes, including the Notes, to ASPI. ASPI would therefore assume Atlantia's obligations as issuer under the Private Notes and Atlantia would be released from its obligations as issuer under the Private Notes, but would concurrently provide the Atlantia Guarantee. In the second phase, the Atlantia Guarantee would fall away.
Thereafter ASPI will therefore have achieved a "ring-fenced" financing structure.
After the Transfer and prior to the maturity of the final series of Public Notes, holders of all series of Private Notes, including the Notes, will benefit from the Atlantia Guarantee which means that their credit profile will be unchanged compared to the current position with the issuer and the guarantor swapping roles. Thereafter, the Atlantia Guarantee will fall away.
In terms of financial contribution to the Group, ASPI represents a substantial majority of the assets of the Group and generates the substantial majority of its EBITDA. Based on Atlantia's consolidated financial statements as of 31 December 2015, the ASPI Group accounts for 67.348% of the Group's assets and 85.3% of the Group's EBITDA.
So, even if the Atlantia Guarantee were to fall away today, holders of the Private Notes (including the Notes) would continue to have the benefit of a significant percentage of the Group's cashflow to fund payments of interest under the notes, and a similar pool of assets in the event of an insolvency.
As regards competing claims for the assets of Atlantia, holders of Private Notes and Public Notes will rank pari passu. In addition, holders of Private Notes will not be subordinated to notes issued by ASPI under the ASPI programme because ASPI noteholders do not have any right of recourse against Atlantia.
Finally, at the same time as the Transfer, Atlantia intends to arrange for the listing of those series of Private Notes which are currently unlisted on the regulated market of the Irish Stock Exchange and, if necessary, the re-listing of those series of Private Notes which are already listed.
Atlantia's proposal is that the terms and conditions of the Private Notes, including the Notes, be amended and updated to align the substance of those terms and conditions with those applicable to notes issued under the ASPI Programme, as most recently updated on 27 October 2016 (the "New Ts & Cs").
The New Ts & Cs are the product of a series of changes made over the years in later updates of the Atlantia Programme and as part of the establishment of the ASPI Programme. Set forth below is a summarised list of certain of the differences between the New Ts & Cs and the existing terms and conditions of the Private Notes which Noteholders might consider to be important:
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Atlantia wishes to obtain the approval of the implementation of the Transfer and amend certain provisions of the Trust Deed and the Conditions in order to provide Atlantia with more flexibility in how it manages its business, in particular as regards financial management generally and the ringfencing of indebtedness raised by different business areas.
Atlantia notes that the passing of the Extraordinary Resolution shall be conditional upon the passing of equivalent extraordinary resolutions by the holders of certain other series of Private Notes in addition to the Notes.
In light of the above, Atlantia has convened the Meeting in order for Noteholders to consider and if thought fit approve the following resolution which will be proposed as an Extraordinary Resolution:
"THAT this meeting (the "Meeting") of the holders (the "Noteholders") of the outstanding €135,000,000 Zero Coupon Senior Guaranteed Notes due 2 April 2032 of Atlantia S.p.A. ("Atlantia") (ISIN: XS0761524205 Common Code: 076152420) (the "Notes") issued under its €10,000,000,000 Euro Medium Term Note Programme guaranteed by Autostrade per l'Italia S.p.A. (the "Guarantor") constituted by a trust deed dated 18 October 2011 (the "Trust Deed") between Atlantia as Issuer, the Guarantor and BNY Mellon Corporate Trustee Services Limited as trustee (the "Trustee") for the Noteholders HEREBY:
modifications referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Extraordinary Resolution or the implementation of those amendments and such release;
11 November 2016
ATLANTIA S.p.A. The Chairman of the Board of Directors (dott. Fabio Cerchiai)
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