Tender offers Bristol & West prefs and BOI pibs

[GoSeigen]

I've read through the announcement on Investigate, but I can't get onto my broker's website at the minute for other details so can someone clarify in respect to the 13 3/8 preffs

Can you tender some of your holding, or is it all or nothing?

Can you still vote yes or no, irrespective of whether you tender none, any or all of your shares?

Confirm that if the majority of vote yes, then they will call all of the shares

I suppose the big question is if the vote is no, will they call the remainder at par at some point in the future. Can anyone remember what the offer was a few years ago when Mark Tabber took them to court?

Thanks in advance

Mick

BOI 13.357% are not preference shares, they're bonds. There is no call option, they are perpetual.


The required vote share to change the terms and allow redemption of all the bonds is 75% not 50%. So a 25% blocking vote is needed.

You can vote yes or no if not accepting the tender, but votes of tendered bonds will automatically be in favour.

You can vote or tender in respect of part of your holding (unless your broker does not permit this).

GS

[Laughton]

I have a "feeling" that in 2012 they offered £1 for the 13.375% bonds.

That set my nerves a changling and generated a stern letter from me to my MP (as recommended by Mark Taber at the time).

[ignotus20]

I have a "feeling" that in 2012 they offered £1 for the 13.375% bonds.

Iirc, it was a worse offer than that:

https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/ ... 65302.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/bank-of ... IY20111130

[88V8]

The best Prefs prices at the mo seem to be GACA/B around 7.7% yield, STAC at 7.9%, AVA/B at 7.3%.

Be interesting to see if SPs fall after the next rate increase today, or rise because of hopes for an above-market tender.

V8

[Alaric]

I suppose the big question is if the vote is no, will they call the remainder at par at some point in the future. Can anyone remember what the offer was a few years ago when Mark Tabber took them to court?

Here's the news story and forum discussions at the time.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/busi ... 04055.html
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/di ... of-ireland

A call at par would have been good in the context of 2011 when the Irish government contemplated cancellation of the issue for little compensation as part of a bailout of the Bank of Ireland.

[PeterGray]

I have a "feeling" that in 2012 they offered £1 for the 13.375% bonds.

That set my nerves a changling and generated a stern letter from me to my MP (as recommended by Mark Taber at the time).

£1!, £1!

They offered 20p. If you had 150,000+ you could get treated as a "professional" investor, and get 40p. I forget the full details of their scam, but I remember scrabbling around to combine holdings from 3 accounts, with help from iDealing, to just make it to 150,000. Thankfully it proved unnecessary. I have a lot less now, but I'll be voting to tender when I get the chance.

[Laughton]

20P - Blimey.

I'm amazed my heart withstood the shock and that I'm still around to consider this, one could almost say, generous offer.

[staffordian]

Purely as a matter of interest (as I sold them years ago), are these the same class of preference shares issued to savers and (as I was) mortgage holders when B&W demutualised in the 90s?

[Alaric]

Purely as a matter of interest (as I sold them years ago), are these the same class of preference shares issued to savers and (as I was) mortgage holders when B&W demutualised in the 90s?

When issued by the Bristol & West Building Society, they were PIBS (Permanent Income Bearing Shares). These were essentially a retail product issued by many Building Societies,

[Holts]

Purely as a matter of interest (as I sold them years ago), are these the same class of preference shares issued to savers and (as I was) mortgage holders when B&W demutualised in the 90s?

Yes

[staffordian]

Purely as a matter of interest (as I sold them years ago), are these the same class of preference shares issued to savers and (as I was) mortgage holders when B&W demutualised in the 90s?

Yes

I must look up what I sold them for

[ayshfm1]

I wrote to BOI at the time and pointed out that the takeover of the Bristol and West was allowed because the regulator viewed their jurisdiction as safe and law abiding and that it would not single out British investors for under fair treatment (which it was) I received a reply which I don't recall disputing what I said.

I also wrote to the regulator and pointed to them the basis of their decision to allow the takeover. I also got a reply from them which boiled down to a we could never predict such a thing and we are thus going to do nothing.

I wrote to the again and pointed at that this was an argument that only works once and it was now not only predictable but there is precedent and thus they cannot going forward be sure that any jurisdiction is safe. How then would they be able to clear the takeover of a British bank going forward and was their inaction not tantamount to effectively providing takeover protection for all British banks. They never replied to that one.

I've been waiting for a foreign bank to try and take out a UK one ever since.

[Kr1ck]

Am I reading the announcement correctly, the last date for retail investors to tender is 1.00 p.m. on 2 August 2023?

[Laughton]

Am I reading the announcement correctly, the last date for retail investors to tender is 1.00 p.m. on 2 August 2023?

That's how I read it. I wonder:

Will they announce takeup percentages for Institutional take-up shortly after their closing date (June 29th)

How long before brokers send notifications/requests for decisions to retail clients? Anyone here heard from their brokers yet?

[GoSeigen]

Am I reading the announcement correctly, the last date for retail investors to tender is 1.00 p.m. on 2 August 2023?

That's how I read it. I wonder:

Will they announce takeup percentages for Institutional take-up shortly after their closing date (June 29th)

How long before brokers send notifications/requests for decisions to retail clients? Anyone here heard from their brokers yet?

Yes, Equiniti is on to it already. Their deadline for responding to the offer is 26 July 2023.

GS

[Surerera]

Nothing from AJ Bell or Barclays yet.

[MickR]

Anything from ii or HL yet?

[richydicky]

I'm not sure what to with BOI. They form a substantial part of my SIPP in drawdown. I could replace with other instruments which would reduce my financials holdings and as they will not qualify as regulatory capital the bank will be keen to redeem. When Natwest tendered NATW I took it up as it was a small part of my portfolio but was a bit gutted when they later made a compulsory winding up on far better terms.

PS As the thread title is Bristol & West might this not capture BOI holders. Perhaps it could be changed to B&W and BOI. The two instruments quoted are different, a preference share and a bond respectively.

[hind]

richydicky, would you happen to have more details / links reference NATW ?
As that event seems to have passed me by
Personally dont think these are great offers, but if better homes exsist then will reluctantly mostly accept

[richydicky]

richydicky, would you happen to have more details / links reference NATW ?

Found the link to the final call of the NATW bond. The original tender was for 185p which I took up. After the tender there was £30.9m remaining, currently BOI is around £40m. 18 months after the original tender Natwest called the bond at very generous rate based on discounting cashlows on the bond till 2052 at the yield of the 30 year gilt. This gave a price of around 240p when it was trading at around 160p.

https://www.ifre.com/story/3654393/payd ... %20trading.