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FIND OUT MOREPartner Paul Brehony comments in Law360 in relation to a recent High Court ruling that would allow Standard Chartered bank to use an alternative to the LIBOR benchmark, the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), to set dividend rates for some shares. The LIBOR benchmark was officially phased out at the start of October this year. Paul's comment was published in Law360, 17 October 2024, here.
Paul commented:
"An interesting development in what many regard as the first meaningful test case over the LIBOR transition since it was scrapped in 2023, and its synthetic successor designed for legacy contracts having expired last month.
In what appears to be a home run for the Bank in relation to the recalibration of investor pay-outs arising from its Preference Shares, the Commercial Court approved the superimposition of SOFR in the face of arguments from investors that this rate was far from a ‘like for like’ replacement to LIBOR, given it is far less ‘dynamic’ in nature, i.e. being far less sensitive to market risk. Thus, it seems the perceived benefits of certainty and clarity will trump arguments from investors (in this instance) that variations should better reflect the original ‘contractual bargain’.
Given SOFR is of course the replacement for U.S. LIBOR, one would assume that in instruments where SONIA is or will be superimposed over UK LIBOR, (and is also arguably less ‘dynamic’) the same principles would apply."
