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Originalmente inviato da rosanello

salve a tutti volendo investire a breve ho scovato questa obbligazione su tradinglab codice isin:xs0191230571 ikb step up scadenza 10/05/2009. è in lettera a 96,90 e rende circa il 5% netto. considerando il rating che è A+ sembrerebbe un rendimento molto appetibile......c'è forse qualcosa che mi sfugge? la parola agli esperti

FRANKFURT, Aug 23 (Reuters) - German subprime victim IKB (IKBG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) had the blessing of its top government-owned shareholder for the type of investing that later led to its near collapse, sources close to the matter told Reuters.

Last month, IKB almost folded in the face of losses from parcels of U.S. home loans it had bought. KfW [KFW.UL], an arm of the German government and IKB's biggest shareholder, led its rescue with an 8 billion euro ($10.8 billion) credit line.

Now two sources close to the matter have said government-owned KfW sanctioned the setting up of IKB's offshore company, Rhineland Funding, in 2002 which made the investments.

"IKB would never have started Rhineland Funding without telling their biggest shareholder," said one source, adding that it was explained to KfW how Rhineland worked.

"It was more than just general information," he said. "It was outlining what's happening (at Rhineland). It was about what Rhineland does -- about the techniques that were used."

He said the information was passed to KfW as well as to IKB's supervisory board, where KfW had a representative.

A second source said: "The way Rhineland Funding worked was known in KfW although in its earlier years it (Rhineland) was a completely different size."

KfW said that a decision about founding Rhineland was the sole responsibility of IKB's management and supervisory boards, adding that it had not given formal approval.

Rising default rates as house prices fell later triggered a crisis that nearly put small-company lender IKB out of business.

In June 2005 an IKB expert wrote a report, entitled 'California Dreaming,' for Rhineland's investment management flagging the threat of a house price bubble in the U.S.

One of the sources said a KfW executive had been sent a copy of this report although the executive was not directly involved in Rhineland Funding.

Little was known about Rhineland Funding until late last month when KfW led an emergency rescue package to save IKB.

It then emerged that IKB's Rhineland had invested more than 17 billion euros ($23 billion) in packages of debt including risky U.S. subprime mortgages.

Rhineland used short-term credit to buy the debt but ran into trouble when home-loan defaults dragged down the value of these investments. Its lenders then pulled the plug, leaving IKB to shoulder the losses.

IKB's annual report last year talks of Rhineland as a conduit for which it had "assumed an advisory function" that in turn was generating fee income. It did not outline the extent of its relationship with Rhineland.

IKB has become one of Europe's most high-profile casualties of the crisis that started when some U.S. home owners failed to pay their home loans, which later snowballed into global credit crunch.

Germany has taken the brunt of the fallout in Europe. Last week, regional state bank SachsenLB said that it too needed to be rescued after risky debt investments including subprime mortgages ran into trouble.

Industry experts say many German banks were tempted by the higher returns from the overseas debt market because it is so hard to make money at home, where competition is fierce.

IKB had been encouraged by credit rating agencies to embark on this type of business to diversify away from its main low-margin business of lending to companies, a source told Reuters.