Latest stories on Socially Responsible Investments

• Breakthrough for supranationals as African Development Bank debuts securitization

  

  The African Development Bank has become the first supranational bank to use a securitization sold to private investors to free up balance sheet capacity. The deal, four years in the making, demonstrates a new technique that could expand development banks’ firepower to promote development.

  • 18 Sep 2018

• AfDB takes the lead as diverse parties push risk transfer

  

  The African Development Bank’s $1bn synthetic securitization is not its first risk transfer transaction, and will not be its last. The bank has marked itself out as a leader in this sphere, though the effort to get such techniques to work is also highly collaborative.

  • 18 Sep 2018

• EC’s new guarantee fund could be useful ally for markets

  

  The European Commission has unveiled a portfolio of financial guarantee transactions it is doing to support development in Africa and regions bordering the EU. Among them are two programmes conducted by the African Development Bank, including its new synthetic securitisation.

  • 18 Sep 2018

• Société du Grand Paris to hit road for debut green bond

  

  Société du Grand Paris mandated banks on Monday to market its debut green bond.

  • 17 Sep 2018

• Insurers, cap markets brace as Florence makes landfall

  

  With Hurricane Florence descending upon North and South Carolina in the US on Friday, markets will be waiting for the impact on insurance firms and catastrophe bonds.

  • 14 Sep 2018

• Region Occitanie hits screens for inaugural SRI

  

  The French region mandated banks on Friday for its first green and social bond, which has been targeted for the long end of euro curve.

  • 17 Sep 2018

• AfDB eyes $500m green return

  

  The African Development Bank is planning to issue its first benchmark syndicated green bond since 2015, in what is likely to the issuer’s final syndication of the year

  • 17 Sep 2018

• BPCE takes record size for new form of social bond

  

  BPCE brought out its first social bond from a relaunched sustainability framework on Monday, with proceeds specifically targeted at local economic development. It broke the record for the size of a social or green bond issued by a European bank.

  • 17 Sep 2018

• Sumitomo Forestry issues first ever green convertible bond

  

  Sumitomo Forestry, the Japanese forestry company that specialises in housing, became the first ever issuer of a green convertible bond this week, pricing a ¥10bn ($90m) five year zero coupon note.

  • 14 Sep 2018

• Nasdaq must come clean

  

  A Norwegian trader lost millions on Wednesday in a bad bet on the German and Nordic power markets, putting other members of Nasdaq Clearing on the hook for €107m in losses. The clearing house withstood the test to its capital buffers, but Nasdaq must be clear about what went wrong and what steps need to be taken to maintain confidence in its systems.

  • 13 Sep 2018

• SGL Carbon powers through convertible bond

  

  SGL Carbon, a carbon product manufacturer, has issued a €159.3m unsubordinated, unsecured convertible bond to refinance existing debt and increase flexibility for further company growth.

  • 13 Sep 2018

• BNG targets ‘at least two’ sustainable bonds in 2018

  

  Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten is planning to issue its first syndicated sustainability bonds of the year.

  • 14 Sep 2018

• China Everbright unveils first green bond

  

  China Everbright Bank Co continued its push to reach more European debt investors this week with its debut green dollar bond, raising $300m.

  • 14 Sep 2018

• AFD EUR500m 0.5% Oct 25 climate bond

  • 13 Sep 2018

• UBS and World Bank team up for green-washed equity linker

  

  World Bank has sold a new equity-linked bond. The twist is that the return is correlated to the performance of a sustainability index — but that doesn’t make it any greener.

  • 13 Sep 2018

• H&H divvies up $450m deal among 12

  

  Strong demand from bank lenders has allowed Health and Happiness International Holdings to bump up the size of its dual-currency loan to $450m-equivalent.

  • 14 Sep 2018

• Iren rides wave of positivity around Italy for second green bond

  

  Italian multi-utility Iren highlighted the improving sentiment around Italian corporate bond issuers when it priced a €500m seven year green bond 15bp tighter than where similarly rated peer 2i Rete had printed a non-green deal the previous week.

  • 13 Sep 2018

• SRI bonanza coming from World Bank, IADB and NWB

  

  Established SRI bond issuers are bringing deals to market over the coming weeks, including a new format from a seasoned borrower.

  • 13 Sep 2018

• Mexico City backs green bond declaration

  

  Mexico City on Wednesday became the largest city — and first city in Latin America — to sign the green bond pledge, a declaration seeking to encourage governments and companies to use green finance.

  • 13 Sep 2018

• IADB looks at EYE return

  

  The Inter-American Development Bank is looking to refinance its inaugural social bond issue, which matures in September.

  • 12 Sep 2018

• DKB, Skipton Building Society line up in covereds

  

  Deutsche Kreditbank and Skipton Building Society both announced mandates for euro-denominated covered bonds on Wednesday, with DKB’s to come as its debut social bond.

  • 12 Sep 2018

• German minister urges capital market progress

  

  Jörg Kukies, secretary of state at the German Ministry of Finance, suggested that the EU’s proposed covered bond directive should not dilute the quality of the product too much. He also wanted to see developments on the Capital Market Union (CMU) by the end of the year and called for an agreement on third-country central counterparties (CCPs).

  • 12 Sep 2018

• Aon tasks team with resolving protection gap

  

  Seventeen years ago, the 9/11 attacks were a black swan event for financial markets and the broader economy. Now, insurance firm Aon is examining terrorism risk as part of a wider aim to close insurance protection gaps and transfer risk to the capital markets.

  • 12 Sep 2018

• World Bank brings new equity-linked product to SRI market

  

  The World Bank is introducing a new SRI note that offers exposure to the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of signatories to the UN Global Compact.

  • 11 Sep 2018

• Ireland to roadshow for debut green bond

  

  Ireland has published a framework for Irish Sovereign Green Bonds and will roadshow in the coming weeks for its first green bond issue, which may be used to fund a wide variety of climate change-related and broader environmental spending.

  • 10 Sep 2018

• AFD tightens price on climate bond

  

  Agence Française de Développement was comfortably oversubscribed and able to pull in pricing by a basis point from guidance with a climate bond issue on Monday.

  • 10 Sep 2018

• HSBC kick-starts sustainable financing programme

  

  HSBC has launched a new sustainable financing programme for Hong Kong businesses, offering a cash rebate to borrowers that meet carbon emissions saving targets.

  • 10 Sep 2018

• Fannie issues breakout multifamily credit insurance risk deal

  

  Fannie Mae has issued a credit insurance risk transfer (CIRT) deal tied to an $11bn pool of multifamily loans, kicking off what the government-sponsored enterprise says will be a regular issuance program going forward.

  • 06 Sep 2018

• EIB speaks in classification debate through new SAB

  

  The European Investment Bank launched its new line of Sustainability Awareness Bonds on Thursday, with a €500m issue that found keen demand from investors. The EIB hopes the SABs will influence the debate on classification in the world of sustainable finance, including the European Commission’s new official Taxonomy of sustainable economic activities.

  • 06 Sep 2018

• EIB EUR500m 0.375% May 26 Sustainability Awareness Bond

  
  • 06 Sep 2018

• Trade war tensions push Volvo Cars to postpone jumbo IPO

  

  Geely’s delay of the Volvo Cars IPO this week, in light of trade tensions between the US and China, will leave a large hole in this autumn’s pipeline.

  • 12 Sep 2018

• EIB’s first sustainability bond a hit, prices through curve

  

  The European Investment Bank achieved very tight pricing for the launch of its first sustainability bond on Thursday, in a sign that the exhaustive marketing it had done for the €500m deal had succeeded. The EIB sees this new product line as a way to influence market practice in the direction of clear explanation of sustainability goals and indicators.

  • 06 Sep 2018

• Asia’s green bond issuers look to the West for support

  

  Two Chinese borrowers’ different approaches to (and different outcomes from) their green bond sales this week have once again put the spotlight on a question that has long plagued the market: where are Asia’s green bond investors? Morgan Davis investigates.

  • 06 Sep 2018

• Chinese green bond issuers find mixed responses

  

  Two Chinese bond issuers found opposite responses to their green outings on Tuesday. While China General Nuclear Power Corp opted for a euro-denominated deal to target green dedicated funds in Europe, Beijing Capital Group found less traction with sustainability-focused investors for its dollar trade.

  • 05 Sep 2018

• SRI Award Winners 2018 revealed

  

  GlobalCapital announced the winners of its Sustainable and Responsible Capital Markets Awards 2018 in Amsterdam on Tuesday evening. This year’s two sovereign debut green finance issues, from Indonesia and Belgium, won Deals of the Year in their regions, and there were double laurels for Danone, in both the bond and loan markets.

  • 05 Sep 2018

• China General Nuclear Power goes green again in Europe

  

  China General Nuclear Power Corporation sold its second green bond in the euro market on Tuesday, nine months after its first success in the format. Last time the company sold green alongside five and 10 year conventional dollar bonds and this time it used a similar combination, replacing the 10 year dollar option with 30 year notes.

  • 04 Sep 2018

• Tesla may be staying public but investors should demand a CEO to match

  

  The furore over Elon Musk’s public declaration that he was seeking to take Tesla private ended, when he reversed his decision last week. Tesla’s equity and debt holders must assess whether they are comfortable with Musk retaining almost sole control over corporate strategy.

  • 04 Sep 2018

• Leo Paper takes HK$350m in green loan first

  

  Leo Paper Group, a Hong Kong-based printing services company, has signed a HK$350m ($45m) four year green term loan and revolving credit facility with seven banks, making it the first privately-held firm to complete such a transaction.

  • 04 Sep 2018

• Newcomers take on senior supply baton

  

  Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank announced a mandate on Monday for its first ever euro-denominated bond. The senior notes will finance green projects. Meanwhile, new issuer Euroclear Bank completed a deal last Friday.

  • 03 Sep 2018

• Hong Kong green finance association to boost city’s market

  

  The Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA) is poised to launch later this month, triggering a new set of efforts in the city to encourage private sector participation in green financing.

  • 03 Sep 2018

• Deutsche Hypo prepares to issue green Pfandbrief

  

  Deutsche Hypo has mandated joint leads for a green Pfandbrief to be issued off its mortgage Pfandbrief programme.

  • 31 Aug 2018

• Banks forced to design strategy for Europe’s green finance push

  

  Banks’ stakeholders are demanding ever-stricter standards on sustainability. Rather than simply issuing green bonds as a standalone initiative, financial institutions must look at their business as a whole. By Jasper Cox.

  • 31 Aug 2018

• Impact investing boom leads to verbal muddle

  

  Impact investing — a specialist field, outside mainstream financial markets, in which investors seek environmental and social outcomes — is burgeoning, leading promoters to raise their targets for the market’s growth. But at the same time, more conventional investors are also laying claim to the term “impact”.

  • 30 Aug 2018

• Andy Rihs’s heir sells Sfr314.9m of Sonova stock

  

  Tobias Rihs, the son of the late Swiss billionaire Andreas Rihs, has sold Sfr314.9m of shares in Sonova Holding, the Swiss maker of hearing aids, from the estate of his father.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• Corporates wake up to social bond potential

  Advances in defining the scope and measuring the impact of social and sustainable bonds have market participants dreaming of a boom in issuance. But involvement from private sector corporates is going to be crucial if the capital markets are going to realise their enormous potential for financing social change. Tyler Davies reports.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• Green-minded banks grapple with climate change

  Markets are not prepared for climate change, which is expected to have severe economic consequences. Event risk, leading to credit risk and political action, will spur dramatic change, that could create a new low carbon economy. Climate change mitigation will eventually come to bear on all aspects of society, in the form of regulatory and fiscal incentives and disincentives. Having a green and sustainable action plan is therefore likely to become core to the strategy of every financial institution.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• Impact joins risk and reward as third axis of ESG investing

  

  Environmental, social and governance investors have done a fine job of making their approach accepted and now mainstream in a money-driven industry. Along the way, they started saying it was all pragmatic, not about principles. That was a fiction, and under the pressure of climate change, it is being replaced with a more rounded philosophy. Jon Hay reports.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• Sustainable Development Goals show their worth for investors

  The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were not specifically designed for finance, something that perhaps helps to explain their popularity among responsible investors, institutions and borrowers. But this does not mean that factoring them into investing decisions is easy, reports Jasper Cox.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• Green loans grow as firms find business and finance harmony

  The syndicated loan market is not renowned as a crucible of financial innovation, but with a new rash of green corporate financings it has left the bond market struggling to catch up. The deals offer borrowers a financial incentive to improve the company’s whole sustainability performance. Silas Brown reports.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• SSAs lead SRI bond market through transition phase

  Public sector borrowers were the pioneers of the green and socially responsible themed bond market. Now that the sector is burgeoning, they are still leading the way. From sovereign issuers bringing green bonds of hitherto unseen size, to supranationals structuring catastrophe bonds to protect poor countries, the supranational, sovereign and agency market has had a busy 12 months. Borrowers have also brought a range of new social and sustainability bonds to market. Others are searching for more assets to add to their SRI funding mix, as well as branching out into new currencies for the first time and exploring the possible issuance of tailor-made, privately placed notes and when they are not bringing deals to market, issuers are driving forward new advances in impact reporting. Meanwhile, the question of where SRI bonds should price relative to conventional curves remains a central question for the future of the sector. GlobalCapital brought together several funding officials at the biggest SRI issuers in the public sector to discuss these issues with investment banks and socially responsible investors.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• Sustainability begins to permeate corporate finance

  The touch points between the corporate finance world and environmental and social consciousness are proliferating. First came responsible equity investing, later green bonds — now this is an evolving, complex interaction.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• Where are the Asian investors?

  Asia’s green bond investor base is bigger than many bankers think. However, it is still not big enough. Matthew Thomas reports.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• People power in finance could help quest for sustainability

  The long growth of responsible investing has happened in a voluntary way, with practices and standards defined by the market. Now, the European Union is taking the controls, with an Action Plan containing a host of measures. It is a leap forward towards sustainability, but more will be needed to get all the way there. Jon Hay reports.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• Trump: an unlikely catalyst for US impact investing

  Enthusiasm for socially and environmentally responsible investing in the US has long lagged the immense size and influence of its financial sector. But under the Trump presidency, that may be changing. David Bell reports.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• Grading goodness: judging shades in the SRI market

  The rapid growth of sustainable finance, particularly in fixed income, has meant standards and sustainability reviews have proliferated, leaving baffled investors to assess their assets against an ever-expanding list of acronyms. Regulators are preparing to wade in with their own definitions, but some fear this will stifle the market’s progress. Owen Sanderson reports.

  • 29 Aug 2018

• Silence is not golden: bond investors try to find their voices

  

  Many bond investors now say they engage with borrowers on ESG issues. Companies are noticing, and a virtuous circle is beginning to turn. But much of the conversation is still very gentle and diffuse, and not concentrated at the point of capital raising. As Jon Hay reports, more ambitious engagements to change whole industries lie in the future.

  • 29 Aug 2018