Latest stories on Socially Responsible Investments

• Gas wins concessions, but EIB makes big step away from fossil fuels

  

  In a marathon board meeting that lasted into the evening on Thursday, EU member states have approved a new Energy Lending Policy for the European Investment Bank, ending a dispute over how fast it can cut out fossil fuel financing. Those arguing for gas still to receive financing won substantial concessions, compared with the EIB's first draft of the policy.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• Green fashion victims

  

  It has been another week of firsts in the still nascent sustainability-linked financing world, but some of the targets lenders are agreeing with their borrowers for cheaper loans seem to have little to do with sustainability.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• Investors coax companies: own up to slavery

  

  A new drive is being launched by investors in London today to persuade companies to root out modern slavery in their supply chains. The quest will be hard in two ways: firms will risk bad publicity if they find slavery; and investors are unlikely to make money out of the work.

  • 12 Nov 2019

• Greening central banks is a measure of political weakness

  

  Green quantitative easing is having a moment. As the European Central Bank restarts the ordinary brown kind of money printing, buying corporate and public sector bonds, a broad range of commentators, from left wing activists to BlackRock’s head of official institutions, argue that central banks ought to put their balance sheet power in play to green the world. But turning to the central banks is a counsel of despair. The technocrats should be a last resort; it is politicians who should be in the vanguard.

  • 12 Nov 2019

• Carbon pricing 2050 target affordable for most homeowners today, says Moody’s

  

  A carbon emissions tax on households will be affordable for most borrowers, so will not be a risk to RMBS and covered bond deals, Moody’s said on Tuesday.

  • 12 Nov 2019

• Banks are talking on climate, but not walking

  

  The greening of the banking sector is only skin deep, research published on Monday indicates. Analysis of 58 of the world’s biggest banks shows they are spending more time thinking about climate change, but few have tried to stop financing it, or even talk to clients about how they could improve.

  • 11 Nov 2019

• CAF returns to euros with green debut

  

  South American development bank Corporación Andina de Fomento said that 61% of orders for its inaugural green bond in public markets, issued on Wednesday, had come from environmental, social and governance (ESG) and green portfolios.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• Swiss Life joins the green bond party

  

  Demand for green issuance outweighs supply in Swiss francs, said bankers after Swiss Life raised Sfr600m last week in a deal that saw all three of its tranches increased to their maximum size and priced at the tight end of the guidance range.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• Securitization to feed capital-starved oil and gas companies

  

  Securitization is quickly emerging as the most attractive financing option for cash-starved oil and gas companies as other avenues of funding diminish, according to industry sources.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• AbbVie wows with $30bn blockbuster

  

  AbbVie enjoyed the undivided attention of US bond investors on Tuesday when it hit the market with a $30bn 10 tranche deal that, remarkably for such a big deal, priced with a negative new issue concession.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• BNG and Kommuninvest join ESG ratings trend

  

  Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten and Kommuninvest followed in the footsteps of KfW as they included their environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings in the terms sheets for socially responsible bonds this week, with the latter selling the largest single-issue green bond from a Nordic public sector borrower.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• FDJ IPO just like 'the good old days'

  

  The IPO of Française des Jeux, the French gaming company that runs the national lottery, has been well received during its first week of marketing and was covered on the full size of the deal within three hours of launch last week. Demand continued to grow throughout this week with retail demand driving momentum.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• Pay cheese: CME launches new food futures

  

  CME Group is to launch block cheese futures and options to enable clients to manage their exposure to cheese markets.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• Green buyers drive CAF euro return

  

  South American development bank Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) said that 61% of orders for its inaugural green bond in public markets, issued on Wednesday, had come from ESG and green portfolios as the issuer raised €750m of euros.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• The Student Hotel finds bed for sustainable loan

  

  The Student Hotel, a Dutch hotel chain, has signed an €82m sustainability-linked loan, claiming the deal is the first of its kind from a European property company as the nascent financing structure presses into more industries.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• Teva prepares to term out funding but opioid problems weigh on costs

  

  Generic pharmaceuticals firm Teva has released price thoughts for a $1.5bn bond refinancing, which will term out its maturities. But the levels on offer show potential opioid litigation is still weighing on the firm’s capital structure. The Israeli company settled with a group of US states at the end of October, sending its shares and bonds surging, but the firm faces a trial in New York next March.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• CDB goes global for onshore green bond

  

  China Development Bank hired a dozen foreign banks for its latest green bond, raising Rmb10bn ($1.4bn) from a domestic market deal that attracted major offshore demand. Rebecca Feng reports.

  • 14 Nov 2019

• Huali University opens book for $125m Hong Kong float

  

  China's Huali University Group launched bookbuilding on Wednesday for its Hong Kong IPO, targeting proceeds of up to HK$978m ($124.9m).

  • 14 Nov 2019

• Tesla charges up for third auto lease securitization

  

  Tesla is returning with its third auto lease securitization, issuing into a market supported by strong auto fundamentals and investor demand for paper sponsored by the electric car maker, deal watchers said.

  • 13 Nov 2019

• BNG EUR750m 0.05% Nov 29 sustainability bond

  • 14 Nov 2019

• Italo mainlines green loans

  

  Italo, the Italian high speed rail operator, has signed a €1.1bn green loan, in what tit says is the biggest ever product of that stripe in its home market and the largest ever in the transportation sector globally.

  • 13 Nov 2019

• EIB offers more loopholes for gas in green energy plan

  

  For the second time, the European Investment Bank has suggested concessions on its new Energy Lending Policy that would weaken its commitment to stop fossil fuel financing by the end of 2020, and its claim to becoming Europe's 'climate bank'.

  • 13 Nov 2019

• Natixis adds to green and sustainable financing team

  

  Xiaofei Guo has joined Natixis to support the bank’s green and sustainable deal origination and solutions sales in Asia Pacific.

  • 13 Nov 2019

• Mediobanca plots advisory, mid-cap push

  

  Mediobanca’s plan for the next four years involves boosting advisory origination and using capital more efficiently in its corporate and investment bank (CIB). It is also committed to issuing a sustainability themed bond.

  • 12 Nov 2019

• SSA pair line up to follow KommuneKredit in green wave

  

  Two SSA borrowers have will follow KommuneKredit's lead by issuing green bonds on Wednesday after the Danish agency announced and priced a deal on Tuesday.

  • 12 Nov 2019

• EU emissions pricing ‘poses mortgage risk’

  

  The European Union’s plan to decarbonise building stock by taxing fossil fuels is likely to lower borrowers’ disposable income and their ability to service loans, which may increase delinquencies. However, it will drive more green covered bond and RMBS issuance, said Moody’s.

  • 12 Nov 2019

• Green bond stalwart Tennet signs sustainability revolver

  

  The Netherlands’ Tennet Holding has increased the size of its bank revolving credit facility to €3bn and linked the margin to sustainability goals, in a deal the electricity transmission system operator says is the largest sustainability-linked revolver in the Benelux region.

  • 12 Nov 2019

• RusHydro's rouble Eurobond set to break 2018 issuance bar

  

  RusHydro will return to the international bond market for roubles with a deal that will likely take 2019’s total issuance in the format above last year’s total.

  • 12 Nov 2019

• Islamic Development Bank keeps green sukuks rolling, announcing debut

  

  Islamic Development Bank has spurred momentum in the green sukuk market, as it announced its debut, a euro deal, in the format this week.

  • 12 Nov 2019

• BNG follows KfW with ESG ratings disclosure

  

  Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten included its environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings in a mandate announcement for its upcoming sustainability bond on Monday, following in the footsteps of KfW which kickstarted the movement with its green bond tap last week.

  • 11 Nov 2019

• Prada designs sustainability-linked loan

  

  Italy's Prada has signed a sustainability-linked loan, in what the borrower has called the first deal of its type for the luxury goods industry.

  • 11 Nov 2019

• Ørsted and Salini net over €165m in gains for ABB investors

  

  Shares in Danish renewable energy firm Ørsted and in Salini Impregilo, the Italian construction company, continued to trade well this week, generating strong returns for block investors.

  • 11 Nov 2019

• Citi rehires MD for new sustainable banking team

  

  Citigroup is forming a new EMEA sustainable banking team and has hired a senior sustainable banking expert who had spent two years away from the firm, working for a supranational.

  • 08 Nov 2019

• Investors net 6% return on €741m Ørsted block

  

  SEAS-NVE has sold around a quarter of its stake in Ørsted, the Danish renewable energy company that was privatised in 2016, raising Dkr5.33bn (€741m).

  • 08 Nov 2019

• Scarce UK supply bolsters RBS's rare social bond trade

  

  Royal Bank of Scotland launched its debut social bond on Friday, attracting over €2bn of orders for its €750m offering. The trade benefited from a favourable backdrop in the primary market and an increased appetite for UK credit caused by a scarcity of issuance from the country this year.

  • 08 Nov 2019

• Dombrovskis: new EU green finance plan by June

  Valdis Dombrovskis, who is in line to be executive vice-president of the new European Commission, said this week that he would soon deliver on the promise of Ursula von der Leyen, the incoming president, who said in July that she intended “to put forward a strategy for green financing”.

  • 07 Nov 2019

• ESG ratings belong on every term sheet

  

  KfW’s inclusion of ESG ratings in a term sheet might seem a superficial step — just one more disclosure of another piece of publicly available data — but it is a step towards a more sensible system of socially responsible investment.

  • 07 Nov 2019

• KfW hopes to ‘start a movement’ on ESG grades

  

  KfW made a simple but potentially significant step in the evolution of bond markets this week as it became the first borrower to highlight its environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings in term sheets for a bond issue, from the mandate announcement to the final pricing details. SSA bankers and issuers have applauded the move and other public sector borrowers are looking to follow, writes Burhan Khadbai.

  • 07 Nov 2019

• Ukraine corporate trio meets warm reception

  

  Investors had three Ukrainian corporate bonds to buy this week — the first time there has ever been such a choice, according to Dealogic data. The deals defied a tricky market and political turbulence to pull off strong results.

  • 07 Nov 2019

• Owens-Illinois brings green HY issue

  

  Ohio-based glass manufacturer Owens-Illinois (O-I) sold a euro-denominated green HY issue through BNP Paribas on Thursday, adding to the tiny clutch of leveraged credits to target deals at ESG-oriented investors — and locking in a storming result, with a size increase from €300m to €500m and pricing through the tight end of the initial range.

  • 07 Nov 2019

SRI News Archive