15th Sep 2010 08:33
15 September 2010
For immediate release
Friends Provident Group plc (the "Company")
Amendment to the terms of Step-up Tier one Insurance Capital Securities of
Friends Provident Group plc
The Company and its parent undertaking, Resolution Limited ("Resolution") yesterday agreed to amend the terms of certain of the publicly-issued regulatory debt instruments issued by the Company, namely its £209,895,000 6.875 per cent guaranteed Step-up Tier one Insurance Capital Securities and its £267,837,000 6.292 per cent guaranteed Step-up Tier one Insurance Capital Securities (the "STICS").
The amendment to the STICS was required as, following Resolution's acquisition of the Company and the Company's de-listing of its ordinary shares, the alternative coupon satisfaction mechanism ("ACSM") feature of the STICS no longer operated as intended.
The ACSM would only apply where coupon payments under the STICS were deferred, which would only happen in exceptional circumstances. Until the Company was de-listed, the ACSM would have operated so that deferred coupons were satisfied by the issue of the Company's shares to a calculation agent, who would sell the shares in the market and apply the proceeds of sale for the benefit of the STICS holders.
Following a review of the options to allow reinstatement of the ACSM in a manner which meets the original intention for the instruments, the terms and conditions of the ACSM in the STICS have been amended to provide that deferred coupons (if any) are satisfied by the issue of Resolution's listed ordinary shares rather than the Company's shares to the calculation agent. As with the Company's shares prior to the amendment of the STICS, the calculation agent will sell Resolution's shares in the market, with the proceeds of such sale applied for the benefit of the STICS holders.
All Enquiries:
Diana Monger, Company Secretary
Tel: 0845 26 83448.
mapperRelated Shares:
FLG.L