KBC Group: KBC announces its Belgian residentia...

Regulated information* - 19 November 2012 (10.00 a.m. CET)

 

KBC announces the establishment of its programme for the issue of Belgian covered bonds backed by Belgian residential mortgage loans, the Euro 10,000,000,000 KBC Residential Mortgage Covered Bonds Programme.

This programme follows the entry into force of the Act of 3 August 2012, establishing a legal framework for Belgian covered bonds.

KBC has obtained the required licences from the National Bank of Belgium (the NBB).

Luc Popelier, KBC Group CFO welcomes today's announcement : "During the presentation of our third quarter results on 8 November, we mentioned that we were in the process of obtaining a license from the NBB to issue Belgian covered bonds. We have now obtained the required license. We plan to issue our first covered bonds this quarter or in the first quarter of 2013.
KBC boasts a strong liquidity position* with  a solid retail/corporate deposit base in our core markets and our funding needs for 2012 are already fully covered. However, we still welcome this opportunity to further diversify our investor base and long-term funding mix and resources through covered bonds, just like our peers in other countries have been able to do so for some time now. Moreover, the Belgian residential mortgage loans, backing the covered bonds we plan to issue, are of excellent quality. We plan to issue 2 to 3 billion euros' worth of these bonds per year in the coming years. "

The KBC group has mandated DEUTSCHE BANK, DZ BANK, GOLDMAN SACHS, KBC, and NATIXIS as joint lead managers for its first Belgian Covered Bonds issue.
KBC will host an investor conference as well as an investor roadshow in the coming days.

Subject to market conditions and regulatory approvals, the first transaction/issue should follow soon. That issue will be reserved to institutional investors.

*loan-to-deposit ratio of 82% at KBC Bank at the end of September 2012

For further information, please contact:

Wim Allegaert, General Manager, Investor Relations, KBC Group
Tel [phone] E-mail [e-mail]
Viviane Huybrecht, General Manager, Group Communications/Spokesperson, KBC Group
Tel [phone] E-mail [e-mail]

 

 

 

Important Information

This announcement shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the Covered Bonds, in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly in the United States of America, Canada, Japan or Switzerland, or any other jurisdiction where distribution would not be permitted by law. The Covered Bonds will not be offered in the United States of America.

No announcement or information with respect to the Covered Bonds may be distributed to the public if the applicable legal requirements have not been complied with. KBC Bank is not responsible for non-compliance of applicable legal requirements by other persons.

 * This news item contains information that is subject to the transparency regulations for listed companies.

KBC announces its Belgian residential mortgage covered bonds
KBC announces its Belgian residential mortgage covered bonds

---

This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of Thomson Reuters clients.

The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.

Source: KBC Groep via Thomson Reuters ONE

HUG#1658999