Credit Card, Visa Card (VCC): 2015

UPDATE 1-AIB to bolster capital with inaugural AT1

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By Alice Gledhill

LONDON, Nov 25 (IFR) - Allied Irish Banks is hoping to capitalise on the success of a recent Tier 2 deal, mandating banks for an inaugural Additional Tier 1 bond that will further strengthen its balance sheet.

The bank is looking to raise 500m from the transaction, which could emerge as soon as Thursday.

The Irish lender sold 750m of Tier 2 bonds last Thursday on books of more than 5bn from some 310 accounts.

While the issuer is not obliged to raise the capital before year-end, it is seeking to build on the strong momentum of that Tier 2 trade after meeting investors on a recent roadshow.

"The market is good and the Tier 2 worked well. As people were giving orders on the Tier 2 they were reversing into the Additional Tier 1, so we know where investors want to see it come," said one lead manager.

Both bonds form part of the Irish lender's capital plan agreed with regulators.

The response to the Tier 2 served as a strong endorsement of the positive trajectory of AIB's credit story, its chief financial officer Mark Bourke said.

That bond, a 10-year non-call five-year deal, has performed well since pricing and was bid at mid-swaps plus 380bp on Wednesday morning, according to Eikon data, having priced at plus 395bp.

AIB said last Tuesday that it had generated more capital, reduced its bad loans and increased its net interest margin in the third quarter. Its fully loaded Common Equity Tier 1 ratio had improved by 90bp in the quarter to 9.2%.

The new Additional Tier 1 bonds will be temporarily written down if the bank's CET1 ratio falls below 7%.

The Irish lender won regulatory approval earlier in November to return 1.7bn of bailout funds, beginning the process of repaying the 21bn it received during the crisis. In total, the state will receive close to 4bn ahead of a potential initial public offering.

Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are joint structuring advisers, together with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Davy, Goodbody and HSBC as joint leads. (Reporting by Alice Gledhill, Editing by Helene Durand, Julian Baker)

Brazil's OAS creditors pass bankruptcy plan, Invepar deal, source says

SAO PAULO Dec 18 Creditors of Grupo OAS , the Brazilian engineering firm under creditor protection, agreed to sell a 24.4 percent stake in infrastructure company Invepar to Brookfield Asset Management Inc for at least 1.35 billion reais ($346 million), a source with knowledge of the matter said.

At a meeting that ended early Friday, creditors passed a restructuring plan calling for bondholders and banks to get 20 percent of their debt repaid in almost 20 years, the source said. Creditors also approved the sale of Grupo OAS's interests in a waste management solutions firm and an oil and gas rig building unit, the source added.

The creditors agreed to sell the Invepar stake if Brookfield drops a plan to extend OAS a debtor-in-possession loan worth 800 million reais, said the source, who requested anonymity because the transaction remains private.

Reuters on Nov. 10 reported the Invepar sale as part of OAS's efforts to emerge from bankruptcy. OAS Investimentos, the unit that managed the Invepar stake for OAS, hoped to fetch at least 2.2 billion reais for the asset, Reuters reported in August.

Under the restructuring plan, OAS was authorized by creditors to keep 350 million reais from the Invepar stake sale to finance operations, the source said.

The sale will take place at an auction next month, and Brookfield secured the right to top any bid from rival parties interested in the Invepar stake, the source added. The bankruptcy plan, as well as the Invepar sale, requires approval from bankruptcy court and three major pension funds that are OAS's partners in Invepar.

Invepar is formally known as Investimentos e Participações em Infraestrutura SA.

In March, Grupo OAS filed for bankruptcy protection in a São Paulo court to facilitate the restructuring of 8 billion reais in debt owed by nine units. The bankruptcy petition came after Grupo OAS struggled with the impact of a corruption probe at state-controlled oil producer Petróleo Brasileiro SA and other state companies that undercut access to financing.

($1 = 3.8990 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

BRIEF-Transaero appeals Rosaviatsiya's order revoking its air operator certificate - court materials

Dec 24 (Reuters) -

* Transaero Airlines has filed a claim to dismiss order of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) revoking its air operator certificate, according to court materials

* The court said the claim has been submitted in compliance with the law and initiated the proceedings

* The preliminary hearing has been set for Jan. 27

Source text: bit.ly/1YCURcy

Further company coverage:

(Gdynia Newsroom)

BRIEF-NPG Technology files for insolvency proceedings

n">Oct 22 NPG Technology SA :

* Said on Wednesday that it had filed for insolvency proceedings in the Commercial Court in Madrid

* To continue with the process of debt renegotiation with creditors and the implementation of agreement reached with industrial and financial partners for their entry into the capital of NPG, as announced on Oct. 16

Source text: bit.ly/1MFC9uJ

Further company coverage:

(Gdynia Newsroom)

Intesa Sanpaolo to grant 1.33 bln euro in loans to Italian bank rescue

MILAN Nov 23 Lender Intesa Sanpaolo said its participation in the rescue of four Italian banks includes loans for a total of 1.33 billion euros ($1.41 billion) and additional pre-tax charges of around 380 million euros, it said in a statement on Monday.

The charges relate to an extraordinary contribution to the resolution fund and will be recorded in the lender's fourth quarter income statement, it added.

Italy launched a new system on Sunday to undertake a 3.6 billion euro rescue of four small savings banks before stricter rules for winding down lenders take effect next year. ($1 = 0.9416 euros) (Reporting by Francesca Landini; editing by Agnieszka Flak)

India delays bankruptcy law, fails to break deadlock on tax

NEW DELHI Indian lawmakers sent a proposed bankruptcy law for review on Wednesday, closing off a raucous parliament session without transacting any major legislative business including a signature reform on state taxes.

The bankruptcy law is aimed at unifying and overhauling rules governing the liquidation or revival of ailing companies into a single code and for the first time imposing deadlines.

Its passage was widely considered to be a done deal after the government introduced the legislation as a money bill which could not have been blocked in the opposition-dominated upper house.

But Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday gave in to a demand by some opposition members for a review by a parliamentary panel. The panel has been asked to submit its suggestions in the first week of the session that begins in February.

Jayant Sinha, Jaitley's deputy in the finance ministry, told reporters that while the government would have liked to pass the bill, it also wanted it to be foolproof.

The month-long session was also expected to make a breakthrough on the passage of the proposed goods and services tax (GST) that has been languishing in parliament since last December.

The measure is the biggest tax reform since India's independence from Britain in 1947. It seeks to replace a slew of federal and state levies, converting the nation of 1.2 billion people into a customs union.

But the tax bill has become a victim of a battle between Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress.

Even Jaitley's offer to address some of the Congress party's concerns on the bill failed to paper over the fraying ties between the two parties.

The failure to pass the GST in the session has ensured that Jaitley's self-imposed deadline of April 1 for its launch will be missed.

"April 1 is out of question," a senior finance ministry official said without spelling out a new timeline.

Sinha also shied away from setting a new date for the GST rollout, which he said was dependent on the passage of the bill.

With political parties gearing up for a fresh set of state elections next year, very few are hopeful of speedier reforms.

"Prospects for wide-ranging reform in the first half of 2016 look slim too," wrote Shilan Shah, an economist with Capital Economics.

(Additional reporting by Nigam Prusty and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Puerto Rico governor's campaign announcement likely to come Monday

n">Dec 12 Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla will make an address to the island on Monday, his press secretary tweeted on Saturday, and is expected to reveal whether he will seek a second four-year term in next year's election.

Garcia Padilla "will offer a message to the country" on Monday afternoon, Public Affairs Secretary Jesus Manuel Ortiz tweeted. Garcia Padilla had been scheduled to reveal his candidacy plans by the end of this week, and some local media had reported earlier on Saturday that an announcement would come on Sunday.

Ortiz's tweet, published Saturday night, suggests it will come Monday. A source close to the governor's Popular Democratic Party told Reuters he expects Monday's announcement to be about the governor's candidacy plans. (Reporting by Nick Brown; Editing by David Gregorio)

UPDATE 1-Spanish court to probe claims against ex-Abengoa bosses

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By Jose Elías Rodríguez and Paul Day

MADRID Dec 18 Spain's High Court said on Friday it would investigate allegations of mismanagement levelled at two former top executives of troubled engineering and energy firm Abengoa by some of its creditors.

Abengoa, which is trying avoid becoming Spain's biggest-ever bankruptcy, has been brought to its knees by a large debt pile after rapid expansion into the clean energy business.

The court said it would probe compensation payments handed out to former Chairman Felipe Benjumea and ex-Chief Executive Manuel Sanchez Ortega, after a complaint over their severance payments from some Abengoa bondholders.

Benjumea, whose father founded Abengoa, will have to deposit 11.5 million euros ($12.5 million) with the court to cover potential liabilities, according to the ruling. The court will also look into accusations of insider trading against Sanchez, who has to post a bond of 4.5 million euros.

Both have 24 hours to deposit the funds, the court said, adding that if they do not it would look at freezing their assets.

Reuters' attempts to reach Benjumea or Sanchez for comment were unsuccessful.

Law firms Ius & Aequitas and Izquierdo Asociados filed a lawsuit against the two executives last month on behalf of a group of Abengoa shareholders and bondholders, who questioned their compensation payments.

Abengoa is close to obtaining a short-term cash lifeline of around 210 million euros it needs to pay salaries and maintain current operations until the end of January, sources told Reuters earlier this week.

Its future beyond January remains uncertain, however, and it only has until mid-April next year to reach an agreement with its creditors to avoid a full-blown insolvency process.

The Seville-based firm has been under scrutiny over its debt levels for months, but mixed messages from the company over its plans for a rights issue turned up the pressure in August.

In November the situation worsened when an investor due to back Abengoa's capital hike pulled out, and Abengoa entered pre-insolvency proceedings.

Although there is no official figure for the firm's total financial liabilities, sources familiar with the matter have said they are at least 25 billion euros.

Benjumea stepped down as executive chairman in September, while Sanchez resigned as chief executive in May. Sanchez later joined investment fund BlackRock.

The High Court said it would ask the stock market regulator for information on trading in Abengoa shares by BlackRock since Aug. 1.

BlackRock did not comment. Abengoa was not immediately available to comment.

($1 = 0.9231 euros) (Additional reporting by Simon Jessop in London; Writing by Sarah White; Editing by Julien Toyer and Mark Potter)

UPDATE 1-Largest Dutch department store V&D granted creditor protection

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AMSTERDAM Dec 23 Vroom & Dreesman, the largest department store chain in the Netherlands, has been granted protection from creditors after failed efforts to turn around the troubled business, the company said on Wednesday.

V&D, with 10,000 employees at 62 stores across the Netherlands, has struggled to cut costs after posting losses in 2014.

"It is a huge disappointment that we have to seek protection from our creditors," Chief Executive John van der Ent said in a statement.

"We hope to be able to provide clarity as soon as possible to our workers, customers and suppliers."

The stores ran into liquidity problems in recent months due to weak sales and owner Sun Capital stopped providing emergency funding, van der Ent said. U. S. private equity firm Sun Capital Partners Inc purchased the retailer in 2010.

"Based on this, the management came to the conclusion that V&D could no longer meet its payment obligations," van der Ent said.

This year, V&D's management negotiated lower rents, salary and job cuts.

V&D stores and its more than 200 La Place restaurants "will remain open in the coming period. This is in the interests of the creditors and of great importance to increase the chance of continuing the operations of the company, or parts of it," van der Ent said.

Dutch retailers have struggled since the global financial crisis, which led to five years of zero growth in the Dutch economy. Retail sales rebounded strongly this year, posting their best performance in seven years.

This week, Amsterdam stock exchange-listed Macintosh Retail Group, which owns several Dutch shoe store chains, filed for protection from creditors.

V&D was founded in 1887 by the Vroom and Dreesman families when the first store was opened in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.

Its online store and shops receive 95 million visitors per year. (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; editing by Jason Neely)

UPDATE 2-Brazil's OAS creditors pass bankruptcy plan, Invepar deal

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SAO PAULO Dec 18 Creditors of Grupo OAS , the Brazilian engineering firm under creditor protection, agreed on Friday to sell a 24.4 percent stake in infrastructure company Invepar to Brookfield Asset Management Inc for 1.35 billion reais ($346 million).

In a statement, OAS said creditors approved a plan in which bondholders and banks will take an 80 percent loss on their debt and accept repayment between six years and 25 years.

Creditors also approved the sale of Grupo OAS's interests in a waste management firm and a rig building unit which may fetch 475 million reais for OAS, the statement added.

The approval of the plan, which was presented in June to creditors and the court overseeing OAS's bankruptcy protection process, means that the ailing engineering company will remain operational, maintain as many as 100,000 jobs and stay current with suppliers.

Reuters reported the passage of the plan earlier in the day.

The bankruptcy plan, as well as the Invepar sale, requires approval from bankruptcy court and three major pension funds that are OAS's partners in Invepar.

Grupo OAS filed for bankruptcy protection in a São Paulo court in March to facilitate the restructuring of 8 billion reais in debt. The filing came after Grupo OAS struggled with the impact of a corruption probe at state-controlled oil producer Petróleo Brasileiro SA and other state companies that undercut access to financing.

"The initiative was the best way Grupo OAS had at hand to facilitate the disposal of assets and renegotiate liabilities amid the credit crunch that the company experienced since last year," the statement added.

The creditors agreed to sell the Invepar stake if Brookfield drops a plan to extend OAS a debtor-in-possession loan worth 800 million reais, according to a source who requested anonymity because the transaction remains private.

Under the restructuring plan, OAS was authorized by creditors to keep 350 million reais from the Invepar stake sale to finance operations, the same source said. Invepar is formally known as Investimentos e Participações em Infraestrutura SA.

The sale will take place at an auction next month, and Brookfield secured the right to top any bid from rival parties interested in the Invepar stake, the source added.

($1 = 3.8990 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal and Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Energy Future, creditors reach settlement over bankruptcy plan

n">Nov 24 Texas's biggest power company, Energy Future Holdings Corp, has reached a settlement with the last group of creditors opposed to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, increasing the likelihood the plan will be confirmed.

The company said in court filings late Monday it had reached settlements with the official creditors committee of Energy Future Holdings, as well as a representative for some junior bondholders.

The plan centers around the sale of its Oncor power distribution business, the biggest power distributor in Texas, to a group led by Hunt Consolidated of Texas. That deal has been valued at $19 billion.

The committee had opposed the structure of the deal, which they said would allow Hunt to walk away if the deal failed to clear regulatory hurdles.

Under the settlement, the committee and bondholders agreed to drop their opposition to Energy Future's plan and the Hunt deal. In return, they would receive some of the interest that has accrued during the bankruptcy.

On Wednesday, Energy Future will lay out the settlements to U. S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi at a hearing in Wilmington, Delaware, according to court documents.

The settlement comes as Energy Future is wrapping up a weeks-long trial to confirm its plan. Closing arguments are scheduled next week, although few objections remain.

In addition to the Oncor sale, the plan also spins off Energy Future's power generation and retail utility businesses to senior creditors.

If Sontchi confirms the plan, Energy Future will remain in bankruptcy until various regulatory hurdles have been cleared. Energy Future will need approvals from the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Internal Revenue Service.

Dallas-based Energy Future entered bankruptcy last year under the weight of its $42 billion in debt and low power prices.

Energy Future was formed out of the $32 billion 2007 buyout of TXU Corp led by KKR & Co, TPG Capital Management and the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs. (Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Allied Irish Banks mandates for debut CoCo bond

LONDON, Nov 25 (IFR) - Allied Irish Banks has mandated banks for a debut euro-denominated Additional Tier 1 bond according to a lead.

Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are joint structuring advisers and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Davy, Deutsche Bank, Goodbody, HSBC and Morgan Stanley are joint lead managers.

Under the terms of the transaction, the bonds will be temporarily written down if the bank's Common Equity Tier 1 falls below 7%. (Reporting by Alice Gledhill, Editing by Helene Durand)

Appeals court refuses to unfreeze Wyly relatives' assets

n">Dec 18 A federal appeals court on Friday refused to lift an asset freeze against relatives of Texas entrepreneur Sam Wyly, who along with his late brother's estate, faces a nearly $300 million judgment in a lawsuit by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The three-judge panel of the 2nd U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals did, however, order a lower court to reconsider the freeze as to seven of the 16 relatives to ascertain whether they actually had received ill-gotten funds from the Wyly brothers.

The SEC sued Sam Wyly and his brother Charles in 2010, alleging that the brothers earned $553 million in undisclosed profits by trading in four companies they controlled, using trusts in the Isle of Man.

The companies included Sterling Software Inc, Michaels Stores Inc, Sterling Commerce Inc and Scottish Annuity & Life Holdings Ltd, now Scottish Re Group Ltd.

Charles died in 2011, and his estate, left to his widow Caroline Wyly, took his place in the lawsuit.

U. S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan ordered Sam Wyly and Charles' estate to pay the SEC more than $299 million in September 2014. The SEC then sought to freeze their assets and those of 16 family members whom it believed had received funds from the brothers' trusts.

The following month, Sam Wyly and Caroline Wyly both filed for bankruptcy. Although bankruptcy normally puts a hold on litigation and efforts to collect judgments, Scheindlin granted the freeze anyway. She found that the SEC, as a government agency, was exempt from the bankruptcy hold.

The 2nd Circuit panel on Friday agreed that the bankruptcy filings did not prevent the freeze, but said there was not enough evidence that seven of the family members had received funds from the Wylys' trusts. It ordered Scheindlin to reconsider that issue.

A lawyer for the family members did not immediately comment on the ruling.

In addition to the SEC's judgment, the U. S. Internal Revenue Service is seeking to collect $3.2 billion in back taxes from Sam Wyly and the estate of Charles Wyly.

The case is U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Wyly et al, U. S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit, No. 144261. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)

UPDATE 2-More Polish lenders pay price for SK Bank's collapse

* Bank Pekao details contribution after SK Bank collapse

* Lobby group urges government to hold off on new levies

* Guarantee fund tempers demand for 2016 (Adds call for restraint on bank levy)

WARSAW, Nov 25 Poland's banks urged the government to rein in a planned new levy on the industry after Pekao SA, the country's second largest lender, joined a growing list of those forced to help cover the cost of the failure of SK Bank.

Poland's financial regulator submitted a bankruptcy filing on Monday for SK Bank, which has about 3.5 billion zlotys of assets. Under Polish law, other banks have to cover the liabilities of failed peers.

Pekao, the Polish unit of Italy's UniCredit, said it would have to contibute 234 million zlotys ($58 million) and that the fee would hit its results in the fourth quarter of this year. Others will be similarly affected.

According to local brokerage DM BZ WBK, Poland's banks could face a bill of 2.1 billion zlotys stemming from the failure of SK Bank.

The head of the country's national banking association, the ZBP, called on the country's new government to show restraint in implementing any further levies on the sector.

The conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), which has an outright majority in parliament after an election in October, plans to raise about 5 billion zlotys from a new tax on bank assets and burden banks with at least part of the cost of conversion of Swiss franc mortgages into zlotys.

"This is another burden over the last dozen or so months, a very high one," head of the ZBP, Krzysztof Pietraszkiewicz, told Reuters, referring to the effects of the SK Bank failure.

"One needs restraint in all this proposing any new levies, because this (.) very negatively affects banks' ability to finance economic development," he added.

The Bank Guarantee Fund (BFG) has sent lenders a letter demanding payments, and banks will pay the money this week, with totals depending on their market size.

There was some better news for lenders when the BFG set the total fee they will have to pay next year at a lower than expected level.

"It's a positive surprise that these fees were not hiked year-on-year (too much). This cost rise is bearable for banks," said Michal Konarski, an analyst with mBank brokerage said.

He added that the cumulated fee will amount to 2.5 billion zlotys next year, up from 2.2 billion zlotys in 2015. It is calculated as a percentage of banks' risk-weighted assets and these are still on the rise.

The market consensus has assumed the aggregated fee to rise to 3.2 billion in 2016. ($1 = 3.9943 zlotys) ($1 = 4.0240 zlotys) (Reporting by Jakub Iglewski, Marcin Goettig, Marcin Goclowski and Agnieszka Barteczko; Editing by Keith Weir)

UPDATE 1-Appeals court refuses to unfreeze Wyly relatives' assets

n">A federal appeals court on Friday refused to lift an asset freeze against relatives of Texas entrepreneur Sam Wyly, who along with his late brother’s estate, faces a nearly $300 million judgment in a lawsuit by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The companies included Sterling Software Inc, Michaels Stores Inc, Sterling Commerce Inc and Scottish Annuity & Life Holdings Ltd, now Scottish Re Group Ltd.

Charles died in 2011, and his estate, left to his widow Caroline Wyly, took his place in the lawsuit.

"We are encouraged that the 2nd Circuit recognized the lack of evidence against many of the relief defendants,” Stewart Thomas, a spokesman for the Wyly family, said in a statement. “The family looks forward to arguing for reversal of the final judgment, which the 2nd Circuit has yet to review."

In addition to the SEC's judgment, the U. S. Internal Revenue Service is seeking to collect $3.2 billion in back taxes from Sam Wyly and the estate of Charles Wyly.

The case is U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Wyly et al, U. S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit, No. 14‐4261.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)