Chrysler 2009 Annual Report Download - page 214

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The bonds issued by the Group are governed by different terms and conditions according to their type as follows:
Global Medium Term Note (GMTN Programme): a maximum of €15 billion may be used under this Program, of which notes of approximately €8.8 billion
have been issued to date; the Program is guaranteed by Fiat S.p.A. The issuer taking part in the program include Fiat Finance & Trade Ltd. S.A. for an
amount outstanding of €7.8 billion and Fiat Finance North America Inc. with a bond having a nominal value of €1 billion.
Other bonds: these refer to the following issues:
a bond issued by Fiat Finance & Trade Ltd. S.A. having a nominal value of €1 billion, issued at par, bearing fixed interest at 6.625% and repayable on
15 February 2013.
a bond issued by CNH Inc. having for an amount of 500 million of US dollars (equivalent to €347 million), issued in 2006 at par, bearing annual interest
at 7.125% and repayable in 2014.
bonds issued by CNH America LLC for a total amount outstanding of 254 million of US dollars, equivalent to €177 million and repayable in 2016.
The unaudited prospectuses and offering circulars, or their abstracts, relating to the principal bond issues are available on the Group’s website at
www.fiatgroup.com under “Investor Relations – Financial Reports”.
Most of the bonds issued by the Group impose covenants on the issuer and, in certain cases, on Fiat S.p.A. as guarantor, which is standard international
practice for similar bonds issued by companies in the same industry sector as the Group. Such covenants include: (i) negative pledge clauses which require
that bonds benefit from any existing or future pledges of assets of the issuer and/or Fiat S.p.A. granted in connection with other bonds or debt securities
having the same ranking; (ii) pari passu clauses, under which no obligations ranking senior to the bonds in question may be assumed; (iii) periodic disclosure
obligations; (iv) for certain bond issues, cross-default clauses which require immediate repayment of the bonds under certain events of default on other
financial instruments issued by the Group; and, (v) other clauses that are generally applicable to securities of a similar type.
The above-mentioned bonds issued by CNH Inc. and repayable in 2014 contain, moreover, financial covenants common to the high yield American bond
market which place restrictions, among other things, on the possibility of the issuer and certain companies of the CNH group to secure new debt, pay
dividends or buy back treasury shares, realise certain investments, conclude transactions with associated companies, give collateral on its assets, conclude
sale and leaseback transactions, sell certain fixed assets or merge with other companies, and financial covenants which impose a maximum limit on further
indebtedness by the CNH group companies which cannot exceed a specific ratio of cash flows to dividend payments and financial expenses.
The above commitments and covenants are subject to various exceptions and limitations and, in particular, some of them would no longer be binding or
would be less restrictive if the bonds issued by CNH were assigned an investment grade rating by Standard & Poor’s Rating Services and Moody’s Investors
Service.