TORONTO, Sept. 15 /CNW/ - CIBC today commented on a lawsuit filed on behalf of Lehman Brothers with respect to a collateralized debt transaction that occurred in 2008.
This matter is not new and has been discussed in CIBC's quarterly financial disclosure dating back to the fourth quarter of 2009. Our views as laid out in that disclosure remain unchanged. It is our belief that the trustee's actions in reducing the unfunded commitment on our VFN to zero should be upheld, although there can be no certainty regarding any eventual outcome. We continue to believe that the CDO indenture trustee's actions were fully supported by the terms of the governing contracts and the relevant legal standards.
CIBC notes that the timing of the lawsuits filed today against a large number of financial institutions involving numerous CDO structures coincides with the expiration of a possible statute of limitations.
CIBC intends to defend itself vigorously in this matter.
Extract from CIBC's MD&A
Gain on reduction of unfunded commitment on a variable funding note (VFN)
In the fourth quarter of 2008, we recognized a gain of $895 million (US$841 million), resulting from the reduction to zero of our unfunded commitment on a VFN issued by a collateralized debt obligation (CDO). This reduction followed certain actions of the indenture trustee for the CDO following the September 15, 2008 bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. (Lehman), the guarantor of a related credit default swap agreement with the CDO. While the Lehman estate expressed its disagreement with the actions of the indenture trustee, the estate has not instituted any legal proceeding with regard to the CDO or our VFN. The Lehman estate has, however, instituted legal proceedings involving a number of other CDOs, and in the first quarter of 2010, in Lehman Brothers Special Financing, Inc. v. BNY Corporate Trustee Services, Ltd., the U.S. bankruptcy court in New York ruled unenforceable a customary provision in a CDO transaction that reversed the priority of the payment waterfall upon the bankruptcy of Lehman, the credit support provider under a related swap agreement. That ruling, which the defendant has sought leave to appeal, does not change our belief that if contested, the trustee's actions in reducing the unfunded commitment on our VFN to zero should be upheld although there can be no certainty regarding any eventual outcome. We continue to believe that the CDO indenture trustee's actions were fully supported by the terms of the governing contracts and the relevant legal standards.
