Currencies

The Netherlands this week set a number of precedents in the sovereign green bond market with its highly anticipated debut deal in the format.

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Barclays plans to follow Crédit Agricole and Handelsbanken into the Kangaroo bond market. The UK lender mandated leads for a deal on Wednesday after the other two banks brought deals on Tuesday.

Kanagaroo bond market participants welcomed the prospect of ever lower rates in Australian dollars as four SSA borrowers priced taps over Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Netherlands got a huge reception for its highly anticipated inaugural green bond on Tuesday, with a final book of over €20bn that allowed the sovereign to issue at the upper end of its target.

Latvia re-opened its 2049 line on Monday, bringing the total to €1bn with a tap that came almost flat to its curve and completed its funding programme for the year.

The Dutch State Treasury Agency (DSTA) has released initial spread guidance for its inaugural green bond, which will be launched via Dutch Direct Auction (DDA) on Tuesday.

Latvia was in market on Monday for a tap of a 30 year bond, returning to the line it opened three months ago. The deal enjoyed strong demand, allowing leads to slice 6bp from the spread.

Russian Rail’s debut green Eurobond last week met with strong demand, but some investors had reservations about buying green bonds from a company owned by the Russian state and used to transport fossil fuels. Antonio Keglevich, UniCredit’s head of sustainability bond origination, responded to the criticism.

The Republic of Indonesia raised ¥177bn ($1.6bn) from a six tranche bond sale in Japanese yen on Thursday, making it the largest public Samurai bond deal from an Asian country.

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Russian Railways launched the first international green bond from its home country on Thursday, a €500m eight year bond. While many emerging market investors were keen to look at the paper, despite the US considering a new round of Russian sanctions, several green investors disliked the company’s ESG enough to not participate.