HAMBURG / ACCESSWIRE / April 8, 2019 / A group of retail holders ("the Group") who own tier 1 bonds issued by Hamburg Commercial Bank AG ("HCOB" or the "Bank") announce today that they have formed a group led by Dr. Johannes Deiß at NEUWERK Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten mbB ("Neuwerk"). All HCOB creditors who seek additional information or want to join the group should immediately reach out to [hsh@neuwerk.legal] or [+49 40 340 57 57 0].
The purpose of the group is to protect the interest of retail holders in light of the Bank's various actions, which this group believes to be illegal, including the Bank's misrepresentations to investors and potential violations of securities laws.
In its recent announcements HCOB says that it intends to inflict losses on creditors that may exceed 90% of the nominal value of their bonds. At the same time, the Bank is flourishing and its new U.S. private equity owners Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., J. C. Flowers & Co., and GoldenTree Asset Management LP, plan to extract value for themselves to the disadvantage of creditors. The Bank and its new owners have and continue to do this by imposing improper losses on the Bank and using accounting gimmicks to write-down the Bank's silent participations, including by carrying forward losses and maintaining unnecessary reserves. In fact, HCOB's Tier 1 bonds could be immediately written up to 100% if HCOB were to release the at least EUR2.3 billion of reserves that it illegally maintains.
HCOB itself states that two of its three future funding pillars are the placement of bonds in the capital markets and attracting retail deposits. The group therefore believes it should be in the Bank's own interest to live up to its commitments and deal fairly with its existing creditors.
Dr. Johannes Deiß at Neuwerk said: "Our aim is to coordinate the potentially hundreds of retail bondholders and to make sure their rights are represented against the Bank and its new owners. While we will coordinate our efforts as appropriate with the existing HCOB creditor groups, the retail bondholders need a seat at the table and need to speak with one voice."
The following bonds are currently negatively impacted by HCOB's improper accounting practices and actions:
- HSH Nordbank SPHERE Securities USD 500 million; Denomination USD 1,000 per bond
ISIN XS0221141400
- HSH Nordbank SPARC Securities EUR 500 million; denomination EUR 1,000 per bond:
ISIN XS0142391894
- RESPARCS Funding Limited Partnership I Securities USD 300 million; denomination USD 1,000 per bond
ISIN XS0159207850
- RESPARCS Funding II Limited Partnership Securities EUR 500 million; denomination EUR 1,000 per bond
ISIN DE0009842542
NEUWERK Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten mbB
Dr. Johannes Deiß
hsh@neuwerk.legal or +49 40 340 57 57 0
SOURCE: NEUWERK Partnerschaft von Rechtsanwälten mbB
View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/541286/Retail-Holders-of-Hamburg-Commercial-Bank-Tier-1-Instruments-Form-Group-Invite-All-Retail-Holders-to-Join
