Wall Street Eyes Fix for $345 Billion Libor Dilemma in Debt Swap
- Beleaguered benchmark set to be discontinued by end of 2021
- FFCB exchanging bonds that can’t switch to new reference rate
A U.S. government-sponsored agricultural lender is seeking to swap $1.9 billion of Libor-linked bonds in a deal backers say could serve as a template for future transactions ahead of the discredited reference rate’s planned phase-out.
The Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corp. is looking to exchange the securities due between 2022 and 2032 that lack language to account for the end of Libor for notes that will shift to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate when the beleaguered benchmark expires at the end of next year. There’s at least $345 billion of dollar-denominated floating-rate notes set to mature after 2021 that don’t have the necessary contractual terms to transition from Libor, according to TD Securities (USA), which is managing the deal.