Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised Société Générale as global coordinator, lead co-arranger and dealer, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan and PKO Bank Polski as co-arrangers and dealers, and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg as dealer, on the establishment by PKO Bank Hipoteczny S.A., a subsidiary of PKO Bank Polski, of a €4 billion international covered bond issuance programme, and the issue of €500 million covered bonds thereunder.

This is the first international programme for the issuance of mortgage bonds under Polish law, as well as the first issue of Polish covered bonds on the international markets.

“We devised an innovative structure for covered bonds issued under the new Polish covered bond legislation,” said Warsaw-based White & Case partner Marcin Studniarek, who co-led the Firm’s deal team. “It allows PKO Bank Hipoteczny to issue covered bonds beyond the Polish market with direct access to the international clearing houses in a manner which allows them to be European Central Bank eligible.”

The programme was approved by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier in Luxembourg on September 28, 2016. The minimum denomination of mortgage bonds is €100,000 and they can be issued under the programme in any currency. Under the programme, PKO Bank Hipoteczny issued €500 million covered bonds, due June 24, 2022, on October 24, 2016. The terms and conditions of the covered bonds provide for listing of the first issue of on the Luxembourg and Warsaw stock exchanges.

The White & Case team which advised on the transaction was co-led by partners Marcin Studniarek (Warsaw), David Barwise (Singapore) and Jochen Artzinger-Bolten (Frankfurt) with support from counsel Bartosz Smardzewski (Warsaw) and associates Michał Jadwisiak and Katarzyna Grodziewicz (both Warsaw) and Eduardo Barrachina (London).