On February 21, 2014, Italy enacted Law No. 9 (the “New Law”), which, among other things: (i) reduces the tax cost of taking security in connection with notes offerings; (ii) expands the array of security that can be granted in connection with the issuance of notes; (iii) introduces new rules which render the investments in corporate bonds more attractive and tax efficient also for investment funds, insurance companies and pension funds; and (iv) allows the structuring of securitization transactions having corporate bonds as underlying assets and the issuance of collateralized bank bonds secured by corporate bonds.

The New Law converted into law the final version of a set of new rules originally set out in Law Decree “Destinazione Italia” No. 145, dated December 23, 2013 (the “Initial Law Decree”). In the wake of the key legislative changes introduced in 2012, the New Law introduces new rules, to further increase flexibility and create a more favorable regulatory environment for the issuance of notes by non listed companies (with a focus on small and medium sized companies), in line with the Italian government’s recent policy to render the Italian bond market more dynamic, thereby allowing Italian companies to become more competitive in the debt capital markets and access multiple sources of financing.

View full memo, New Italian Rules to Create a More Favorable Regulatory Regime for the Issuance of Corporate Bonds