Generali successfully places €1 bln subordinated bond, completes funding needs until 2016 call dates

Trieste - Generali placed today, in a few hours, a fixed rate 12-year subordinated bond for an overall amount of €1 billion. The issue, directed to institutional investors, attracted orders for €7.4 billion, more than 7 times the target. With the successful conclusion of today’s issue the Group covered all funding needs until 2016 call dates.

Over 80% of the final allocation went to long-term institutional investors confirming the excellent credit reputation of Generali with “blue-chip” investors. After the particularly positive response of the market, the spread guidance was revised from initial indications of 250 basis points to a final spread set at 225 basis points, with a 4.125% coupon and a 99.073% relative issue price.

The issue aimed both to replace regulatory capital after the non-admissibility of the €500 million subordinated loan granted in 2008 already repaid and to refinance the senior debt of the Group due in 2015, at a lower cost to the Group. Overall the issue will lead to an improvement of the Group’s Interest Cover Ratio. Moreover, the Group has in place the resources to achieve a net debt reduction of €1 billion by 2014, and has already refinanced the 2015 senior liabilities with a subordinated instrument, effectively rebalancing the mix of debt between senior and subordinated liabilities.

The issue attracted strong interest from international investors, which accounted for approximately 87% of the placement. Around 34% of the placement went to UK institutional investors, approximately 14% to German companies and 12% to France.

In particular, the terms of the issue were as follows:

Issuer: Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A.
Issue Expected Rating: BBB+ (S&P)/ Baa3 (Moody’s)/ BBB (Fitch)/ bbb+ (AM Best)
Amount: €1 billion
Launch date: 23 April 2014
Settlement date: 2 May 2014
Due date: 4 May 2026
Coupon: 4.125%
First coupon date: 4 May 2015
Issue price: 99.073%

Barclays (Structuring Advisor), Mediobanca, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Unicredit acted as Joint Lead Managers for the issue, which will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.