deeply subordinated

"Banco Espirito Santo SA, Portugal’slargest bank by market value, sold 176 million euros ($234million) of notes to customers, as Europe’s debt contagion leaves the nation’s banks shut out of international markets. Espirito Santo offered an interest rate of 8.5 percent onthe subordinated notes, its first sale to Portuguese consumer-banking clients, said Paulo Ferreira, head of funding at theLisbon-based lender. It plans to sell an additional 75 million euros of the notes (...) Espirito Santo is offering clients an attractive yield for theso-called perpetual notes, which the bank can choose to redeemstarting in March 2016. Payment of interest isn’t guaranteed and the debt, which the company describes as “deeply” subordinated, can be used to absorb losses.", Bloomberg News.