Cleary Gottlieb served as counsel for Crédit Agricole Assurances in the €750 million issuance of Undated Subordinated Resettable Notes. The managers on the transaction, which closed October 14, were Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Commerzbank, BNP PARIBAS and ING.
The offering represents CAA’s first-ever issuance of hybrid securities to outside investors. With the proceeds of the issuance, CAA intends to redeem internal hybrid securities held by its parent company, Crédit Agricole.
Issued under French law and pursuant to Regulation S, the Notes have no fixed maturity date and will bear a fixed interest rate of 4.500% per annum until October 14, 2025, after which the rate will be reset. Interest payments are subject to cancellation at the option of the Issuer, and to mandatory cancellation under certain circumstances. Admitted to trading on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris, the Notes will be subject to optional redemption by the issuer on October 14, 2025 and every year thereafter, with the prior approval of the relevant and subject to certain conditions.
CAA is one of France’s leading insurance groups and the largest bancassurance provider both in France and in Europe. It is the bancassurance arm of the Crédit Agricole Group, which is the largest banking group in France, and one of the largest in the world.