Nordea has gained approval from the holders of all but three of the covered bonds issued by Nordea Bank Finland to transfer the outstandings to a newly established demerged entity, Nordea Hypoteksbank, following meetings on Friday, with meetings adjourned for the remaining three after a quorum was not met.

Nordea launched the consent solicitation on 4 March, targeting all of the 37 covered bond series issued by Nordea Bank Finland, to gain bondholders’ consent for Nordea Hypoteksbank to assume the role of issuer while Nordea Bank Finland is converted into a branch of the Swedish parent.

After meetings were held on Friday, Nordea announced that it had obtained approval from the holders of 34 of the 37 covered bond series.

The meetings of the three remaining covered bond series did not meet the required quorum, and have therefore been adjourned until 18 April.

The three covered bond series for which the meetings were inquorate are:

Eu50m FRN September 2019 XS0835318196

Eu70m FRN May 2021 XS1072529677

Eu10m FRN February 2022 XS0740844609

Consent instructions equal to 20% of the principle amount were received for the September 2019 issue, with all in favour, while no consent instructions were received for the other two issues.

The restructuring is part of a strategy under which Nordea plans to turn each of its national subsidiary banks in the Nordics into branches of the Swedish parent. The planned demerger date is 1 July 2016.

Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch International and Nordea Bank Danmark are solicitation agents.