Cleary Gottlieb represented BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, Nomura and Société Générale as underwriters in a registered offering by the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) of $1 billion in 1.500 percent notes due 2019.
The offering priced on May 10, 2017, and closed on May 17, 2017. This deal comes after two U.S. notes offerings by CEB in 2013, one in 2014, one in 2015, two in 2016 and one in January 2017. Cleary represented the underwriters in all seven earlier offerings, totaling $7 billion.
CEB is a multilateral development bank with a social vocation, established in 1956 by eight Council of Europe countries. Currently, 41 European states are members of CEB. The bank falls under the supreme authority of the Council of Europe but is legally separate and financially autonomous from it. The bank is solely responsible for its own indebtedness. CEB’s activities include providing aid to victims of natural or ecological disasters and other social objectives directly contributing to strengthening social cohesion in Europe, such as supporting countries grappling with migrant and refugee flows, education and vocational training, health, social housing, employment in SMEs, improving living conditions in urban and rural areas, protection of the environment, preservation of historic and cultural heritage, and infrastructure intended for administrative and judicial public services. In order to serve these objectives, the bank grants or guarantees long-term loans to its member states or institutions approved by them. Since its inception, CEB has granted approximately €42.6 billion in loans.