Global law firm Freshfields has once again advised a syndicate of leading financial institutions on the €500m issuance of Additional Tier 1 capital instruments (AT1 notes) by Raiffeisen Bank International AG. The group of banks includes Citigroup, Crédit Agricole CIB, Natixis, Raiffeisen Bank International AG and UBS Investment Bank as Joint Lead Managers. With this transaction, Freshfields continued to advise the syndicate of banks, which it had previously advised on a successful AT1 notes issuance by Raiffeisen Bank in November 2024.

The new AT1 notes, which strengthen the regulatory capital of one of Austria's leading banks, were placed exclusively with institutional investors. The AT1 notes were admitted to the regulated market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange on 17 September 2025. Citibank Europe Plc acts as Principal Paying Agent and Calculation Agent.

In addition, Freshfields advised the Joint Lead Managers on a tender offer by Raiffeisen Bank for its outstanding €500m AT1 notes from 2018. The tender offer enables noteholders to sell their notes to the issuer Raiffeisen Bank International at a purchase price of 100.00%. The buyback is expected to be settled on 22 September 2025.

The multijurisdictional Freshfields team was led by Partners Stephan Pachinger (Vienna/Frankfurt) and Christoph Gleske (Frankfurt). The team also included Principal Associate Birgit Schulz (Frankfurt) and Associate Benedikt Graf (Vienna, all Capital Markets).