Linklaters advises on TenneT’s €16.2 billion EMTN bonds consent solicitation

Linklaters has advised ABN AMRO and Deutsche Bank as the solicitation agents on TenneT's successful consent solicitation concerning €16.2 billion of its senior EMTN bonds.

This pivotal transaction enables the transfer of the bonds from TenneT Holding to TenneT Netherlands, the majority thereof benefitting from the Dutch state guarantee envisaged for TenneT Netherlands. The consent solicitation marks an important step in TenneT's new funding structure, which establishes separate Dutch and German operations and sets the stage for the potential raising of external equity for TenneT's German operations. The consent solicitation process involved multiple complexities due to the interplay with the ongoing corporate and funding restructuring of TenneT and the significant amount of series of bonds that were targeted.

The next step in this process is receiving parliamentary approval for the state guarantee to be granted to TenneT Netherlands which, if not obtained, will be replaced by an additional fee payment to eligible holders of the bonds.

The Linklaters team was led by Capital Markets counsel Hugo van der Molen, with key contributions from Tom van Steenbrugge and Akrit Anand.