Legal Notice

Scope of this notice

This notice governs the use of this website and applies to every research document published by Elqui Bond Research, however it is obtained: through this website, through a subscription, or through any third party. In this notice, "this document" means any such research document. The same notice is reproduced in full in every document published by Elqui Bond Research.

Please read this notice before reading any research published by Elqui Bond Research. By accessing, reading or retaining a document you are deemed to have read, understood and accepted the terms set out below. If you do not accept them, you should not read the document further and should delete or destroy any copy in your possession.

1. Publisher and regulatory status

This document is published by Elqui Bond Research S.à r.l.-S, a société à responsabilité limitée simplifiée incorporated in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register (R.C.S. Luxembourg) under number B311288, with its registered office at 6, Rue Pierre-Joseph Redouté, L-2435 Luxembourg, and holding business establishment authorisation no. 10198876/0. Its declared activity is credit research services.

Elqui Bond Research is not authorised or regulated as an investment firm under Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID II), is not a credit institution, and is not registered or certified as a credit rating agency under Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009. It does not hold or control client assets or client money, does not receive, transmit or execute orders, does not arrange or advise on transactions in financial instruments, and does not manage portfolios or provide portfolio management services to any person.

2. No investment advice, no personal recommendation, no advisory relationship

This document is published for information purposes only, as an independent analytical input to the reader's own credit assessment process. It does not constitute, and must not be construed as, investment advice, a personal recommendation, an investment service, financial, legal, tax or accounting advice, or an offer, invitation or solicitation to buy, sell, subscribe for, hold or dispose of any financial instrument.

This document is addressed to no specific person. Nothing in it takes into account the investment objectives, financial situation, knowledge and experience, risk tolerance, investment horizon, regulatory or mandate constraints, or tax position of any reader or of any person on whose behalf a reader may act. No assessment of suitability or appropriateness within the meaning of MiFID II has been carried out, and none may be inferred. No opinion expressed in this document constitutes a view that any instrument is suitable for any reader.

Elqui Bond Research does not act, and must not be treated as acting, as a fiduciary, adviser, agent, broker or intermediary of or for any reader. No advisory or fiduciary relationship arises between Elqui Bond Research and any person by reason of that person accessing, reading, retaining or relying upon this document.

Where a reader holds a paid subscription, the resulting contractual relationship is a contract for the supply of published research documents on the terms of the subscription agreement. It is not an advisory mandate, it confers no entitlement to a personal recommendation, and it does not transfer to Elqui Bond Research any part of the responsibility for an investment decision. Payment of a subscription fee changes nothing in this section.

This document is an input to the reader's own investment decision process. It is not a recommendation to buy, to sell or to hold any instrument, and it contains no such recommendation however expressed. The decision whether to buy, sell or hold, and the responsibility for that decision and for its consequences, rest exclusively with the person who takes it, and not with Elqui Bond Research or with the analyst who wrote this document.

3. How the research is funded, and what subscription revenue does not buy

Elqui Bond Research is funded by subscription fees paid by its readers. Certain documents are also made available without charge, including on third-party platforms. Whether a particular reader has paid for access makes no difference to the content of this document.

Elqui Bond Research receives no fee, commission, retainer or other consideration of any kind from the issuer covered, from any affiliate, shareholder, director or adviser of that issuer, from any platform on which this document may appear, or from any broker, dealer, intermediary, distributor or counterparty. No part of its revenue depends on any transaction in the instruments covered, on the direction of any opinion expressed in this document, or on the reaction of any issuer to that opinion.

Subscription revenue confers no editorial rights. A subscriber has no entitlement to see a document before its publication, to require coverage of any issuer, to influence any analytical conclusion, to have a finding withheld, delayed or softened, or to obtain analysis tailored to its own portfolio, positions or mandate. Analytical conclusions are not altered, and adverse findings are not suppressed, in response to a request from a subscriber, and no subscription is terminated or withheld on the ground that a subscriber disagrees with a conclusion.

4. Intended readership; readers who are not professionals

This document is prepared for, and intended to be read by, regulated financial intermediaries, wealth managers, external asset managers, family offices and comparable professional market participants, for use within their own internal research, credit assessment and advisory processes. It is written on the assumption that the reader possesses the professional knowledge and experience required to evaluate independently the analysis, assumptions, limitations and risks it contains.

It is not intended for retail investors and retail investors must not rely on it. Any person who is not a professional market participant, or who is uncertain whether they are, should disregard this document in its entirety and consult an authorised financial adviser before taking any investment decision.

Where a reader forwards this document, or any part of its content, findings or conclusions, to an underlying client or to any third party, that reader assumes full and exclusive responsibility for the suitability, appropriateness, presentation, framing and regulatory compliance of the resulting communication, including any advice, personal recommendation, marketing communication or pre-contractual disclosure required under applicable law.

5. Third-party platforms and absence of control over dissemination

This document, or content derived from it, may be made available on third-party platforms or websites, including in circumstances where it may be accessible without restriction. Elqui Bond Research exercises no control over, and accepts no responsibility for, the manner in which any third-party hosts, presents, titles, frames, summarises, excerpts, translates or otherwise contextualises this document or its content, nor over any other material, commentary, product offering, transactional functionality or advertising appearing alongside it. No such presentation is endorsed by Elqui Bond Research, and no headline, categorisation or label applied by a third-party forms part of this document or alters its character as set out in section 2.

Elqui Bond Research does not solicit, target or market this document to retail investors, and does not disseminate it to any person by way of direct offer or promotional approach.

6. Not a credit rating

The opinions, assessments, qualitative gradings and descriptors contained in this document, including any characterisation of risk or credit quality as "low", "moderate", "elevated", "high", "strong", "adequate" or by any equivalent term, are the independent analytical views of Elqui Bond Research.

They are not credit ratings, do not constitute credit ratings within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009, are not issued, endorsed or verified by any registered or certified credit rating agency, and must not be used for any regulatory purpose for which a credit rating is required, including capital adequacy, collateral eligibility, index inclusion or investment mandate compliance.

Credit ratings assigned by registered rating agencies and referred to in this document are reproduced as third-party factual information as at the date stated, remain the opinion and property of the relevant agency, may have been changed, suspended or withdrawn since that date, and should be verified directly with the agency concerned.

7. Status and disclosures under the Market Abuse Regulation

Elqui Bond Research prepares this document as objectively presented information. To the extent that any of its content constitutes an investment recommendation within the meaning of Article 3(1)(35) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR) and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/958, the following disclosures apply:

Producer. The natural person responsible for the preparation of this document is Marco Lantermo, Founder, sole manager and Credit Analyst of Elqui Bond Research S.à r.l.-S, the company under which it is produced and disseminated.

Date and time. The date, and where applicable the time, of completion and of first dissemination are stated on the cover of this document. All prices, yields, spreads and other market data are stated at the date and time indicated, are indicative only, and are not updated thereafter.

Sources. This document is based exclusively on publicly available information, principally the issuer's regulatory filings, published financial statements and earnings disclosures, publicly available rating agency communications, and market data obtained from the sources identified in the text. Sources are identified throughout.

Methodology and basis of valuation. The analytical methodology, the assumptions underlying every projection and scenario, and the basis of every valuation and sensitivity presented are set out expressly in the body of this document. Estimates, derived figures, assumptions and data gaps are identified as such at the point at which they appear.

Meaning of any opinion expressed. Any statement regarding the compatibility of an instrument's characteristics with a described portfolio profile is a general analytical observation about that instrument. It is not a recommendation to any person to buy, sell or hold, and carries no implied price target, holding period, position size or expected return for any reader.

Planned updates. This document is a point-in-time analysis. Elqui Bond Research is under no obligation to update it, to correct it, or to notify any person of any change. Any update will be issued solely at its discretion and in accordance with its stated surveillance methodology.

Prior dissemination. Elqui Bond Research does not operate a buy/hold/sell recommendation system and accordingly does not publish a distribution of recommendations. Where Elqui Bond Research has produced content concerning the issuer covered in the preceding twelve months, a record of such content is available on request.

8. Conflicts of interest

As at the date of this document, neither Elqui Bond Research nor the analyst responsible for its preparation:

(a) holds any long or short position, direct or indirect, in the financial instruments of the issuer covered or in the equity of that issuer;

(b) engages in proprietary trading in those instruments;

(c) has received any compensation from the issuer covered or from any affiliate of that issuer, whether in connection with this document or otherwise;

(d) has any investment banking, corporate finance, market making, distribution or advisory relationship with the issuer covered; or

(e) has any commercial, distribution, referral or revenue-sharing agreement with any third party in respect of this document.

Elqui Bond Research sells subscriptions to its research to professional market participants. A subscriber may hold, or may act for a person who holds, a position in the instruments covered by this document. Elqui Bond Research does not ask its subscribers about their positions, does not know them, and does not take them into account in selecting coverage or in forming any analytical view. No subscriber, and no other person, is given access to this document or to any of its findings before its general publication to all subscribers entitled to it under their plan.

Certain content produced by Elqui Bond Research has been made available on the Bondfish platform in the context of an informal and non-remunerated collaboration. Elqui Bond Research receives no fee, commission or other consideration from that platform, from any broker or intermediary referenced on or accessible through it, or from any transaction executed by any person. Readers are informed of this relationship so that they may take it into account when assessing the independence of this document.

The remuneration of the analyst responsible for this document is not linked, directly or indirectly, to the views expressed in it, to any transaction in the instruments covered, or to any revenue arising from any such transaction.

9. Information, forward-looking content and reliability

The information in this document has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but Elqui Bond Research makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to its accuracy, completeness, currency, adequacy or fitness for any purpose. Information is stated as at the date indicated and is subject to change without notice.

This document contains forward-looking statements, projections, scenarios, sensitivities and probability assessments. These are illustrative analytical constructs based on stated assumptions. They are not forecasts of actual outcomes, not statements of fact, and not guarantees of any kind. Actual results will differ from them and may differ materially and adversely. Any probability assigned to a scenario reflects the analyst's judgement and is not a statistical or actuarial measure. Past performance and historical data are not a reliable indicator of future results.

10. Risk warning

Investment in debt securities involves risk, including the risk of loss of the entire amount invested. Risks include, without limitation: credit and default risk of the issuer and of any guarantor; interest rate risk, which causes the market price of a fixed-rate instrument to fall when market yields rise; currency risk where an instrument is denominated in a currency other than the investor's reference currency; liquidity risk, whereby an instrument may not be capable of being sold promptly or at any indicated price; early redemption and reinvestment risk; structural, subordination and recovery risk; sovereign, political, legal and regulatory risk in the issuer's jurisdiction; and the risk that contractual protections available to holders are limited or absent. Prices, yields and spreads quoted are indicative, are drawn from the sources stated, may not be executable, may not reflect institutional market levels, and may differ materially from prices available to any particular investor.

11. Reader responsibility

This document is one input among others. It is prepared to be read alongside the reader's own analysis, the offering documentation and whatever further sources the reader considers necessary. It is not designed to be, and must not be used as, the sole basis of any decision.

Each reader is solely and exclusively responsible for its own investment decisions and for any decision taken on behalf of any third party. That responsibility is not shared with, reduced by or transferred to Elqui Bond Research by reason of the reader having read this document, having relied upon it, or having paid a subscription fee for access to it. Readers should form their own independent view, conduct their own due diligence, read the offering documentation, prospectus and any key information document relating to any instrument considered, and obtain independent professional advice appropriate to their own circumstances before acting.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Elqui Bond Research and Marco Lantermo accept no liability whatsoever for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential loss or damage, including loss of profit, loss of opportunity or loss of data, arising out of or in connection with the use of, reliance upon, or inability to use this website, this document or any of its contents, whether or not the possibility of such loss was foreseeable. Nothing in this notice excludes or limits any liability which cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for fraud, wilful misconduct or gross negligence.

13. Intellectual property

This document and its contents are the property of Elqui Bond Research and are protected by copyright. It may not be reproduced, redistributed, published, transmitted, sold, or used to create derivative works, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Elqui Bond Research, save that a reader may retain and circulate it internally in unaltered and complete form, including this notice. Third-party content reproduced in this document remains the property of its respective owner and is used for identification and analytical purposes only under applicable exceptions.

14. Governing law and jurisdiction

This notice, and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with it, are governed by the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The courts of the city of Luxembourg have exclusive jurisdiction, without prejudice to any mandatory provision of law conferring jurisdiction elsewhere.