Credit Suisse gained bondholder consent to amend documentation for all its covered bonds yesterday (Wednesday) to allow their transfer to a new entity, while National Australia Bank got the green light to convert four hard bullet issues to soft bullet structures.

Credit Suisse on 22 August launched a consent solicitation seeking approval to change the definition of an “issuer event of default” (IEoD) to allow for the transfer of its covered bonds to a newly created domestic subsidiary, CS Schweiz.

CS Schweiz – which is being founded in response to Switzerland’s “too big to fail” regulations – will be responsible for, among other things, the residential mortgage business related to its covered bond programme. CS Schweiz will assume a contractual joint and several liability for all contractual obligations of Credit Suisse AG – the issuer of the covered bonds – at the time of the asset and liability transfer, which is expected by year-end.

After investor meetings yesterday, Credit Suisse announced that the extraordinary resolution had been passed for all six issues targeted. The bonds for which bondholder consent was given are:

Eu1.25bn January 2017 XS0732551550

Eu1.25bn October 2018 XS0692723553

Eu1.75bn March 2019 XS1044479373

Eu1.25bn January 2021 XS1015884833

Eu1.25bn September 2021 XS1111312523

Eu600m 2039 XS1088825143

The bonds are Credit Suisse’s only outstanding covered bonds.

National Australia Bank on 23 August launched a consent solicitation to convert four covered bonds in euros, Norwegian kroner and sterling from hard to soft bullet structures. After bondholder meetings yesterday, the Australian issuer announced that it had obtained approval for the conversion of each of the bonds.

The bonds for which bondholder consent was given are:

Eu1bn 2.625% January 2017 XS0730559894

Nkr3.125bn 5% December 2021 XS0721652252

Eu1bn 1.875% January 2023 XS0864360358

£250m 3% September 2026 XS0825495368

The four bonds were issued early in the Australian bank’s programme, while NAB’s more recent issuance has been in soft bullet format.

Credit Suisse was sole agent on the two consent solicitations.