The supranational raised $100m of 10 year paper with a private placement sold through Crédit Agricole. The bond carried a coupon of 2.383% and was priced at par.
A spokesperson at the IFC said that the level was inside the borrower’s public dollar curve but in line with the usual price for private placements.
An MTN banker away from the trade said that social bonds were likely to become more common private placements than green bonds. “Issuers like to save up their assets to issue green benchmarks, but it’s easier to find social assets so borrowers can print to demand, rather than waiting for a big syndicated deal,” he said.
Nippon Life, a Japanese insurance company, bought the paper. Nippon Life was also the sole investor in BPCE’s social Samurai bond, which was sold in June. That trade was a ¥58.1bn ($521.2m) social impact bond and was divided into tranches of five, seven, 10 and 15 years.
The IFC spokesperson said that size was not a constraining factor for the supranational’s green or social bond issuance, and that it planned to issue more themed assets.
