Green and Social Bonds and Loans

  • Telus preps Canada’s first SLB, Enbridge to follow

    Telus preps Canada’s first SLB, Enbridge to follow

    Canadian telecommunications company Telus is set to print the nation’s first sustainability-linked bond, after launching its framework earlier this week. Fellow Canadian Enbridge could join Telus: the oil pipeline operator published its SLB framework on Thursday.

    18 Jun 2021
  • Booting up ESG banking 2.0

    Booting up ESG banking 2.0

    You’d have to have been living in a cave — or perhaps an unfashionable coal mine — not to have noticed that sustainable finance is booming. But you might be forgiven for not picking up on the major shifts that have been taking place in the discipline in recent years.

    18 Jun 2021
  • EU: a good start but it will get tougher

    EU: a good start but it will get tougher

    There were likely some well earned fist bumps and high fives going on in Brussels this week after the EU inaugurated its Next Generation funding programme with a triumphant €20bn outing. But things won’t always be so smooth for the issuer.

    17 Jun 2021
  • ESG banking: the next generation

    ESG banking: the next generation

    As environmental, social and governance linked issuance increasingly take centre stage in the capital markets, the way investment banks are marshalling their resources in this area is undergoing a big shift, with the creation of new, distinct teams increasingly populated by professionals who do not have traditional banking backgrounds.

    17 Jun 2021
  • German energy storage firms turn to loans

    German energy storage firms turn to loans

    German energy storage companies populated the loan market this week, with battery maker Varta and solar cell company Meyer Burger raising €420m between them.

    17 Jun 2021
  • June is the greenest month: banks pile into ESG deals

    June is the greenest month: banks pile into ESG deals

    Labelled FIG issuance has doubled as a proportion of overall euro supply this month, with banks proving comfortable issuing ESG deals up and down the capital structure. In many recent cases, issuers have benefitted from extra leverage on pricing when they have used green labels for their transactions.

    17 Jun 2021
  • Naturgy A&E doubles euro revolver size

    Naturgy A&E doubles euro revolver size

    Naturgy Energy, the Spanish gas and electricity utility, has doubled the size of its revolving credit facility in an amend and extend exercise, the latest demonstration that the balance of power in the loan market remains firmly on the side of the borrowers.

    17 Jun 2021
  • Higher rated corps print through curves

    Higher rated corps print through curves

    Europe’s high grade bond market hosted issuers at both ends of the rating spectrum on Wednesday, with Italian transmission company Terna and Singapore’s Ascendas Reit finding ample demand for their higher rated debt.

    16 Jun 2021
  • Mann+Hummel blends green and sustainability-linked SSDs

    Mann+Hummel blends green and sustainability-linked SSDs

    In an innovative step for the Schuldschein market, German filter maker Mann+Hummel is marketing a deal that is both green and sustainability-linked. Several sources have said this could prompt more issuers to use this type of hybrid structure.

    16 Jun 2021

  • Most Impressive Investment Bank for SSA Green/SRI Capital Markets — Crédit Agricole CIB

    The green and SRI bond market has been through a dizzyingly fast development over the past year, powered by the appearance of some of the world’s largest public sector issuers, with two green bond entrants from the G7 and the return of a third. Crédit Agricole CIB, with its long-established ESG credentials, has been at the heart of the action.

    16 Jun 2021

  • Most Impressive Investment Bank for Green/SRI Capital Markets — BNP Paribas

    Sustainability became the defining feature of late 2020 and 2021 capital markets, with ever more issuers and investors in more asset classes using more products than ever before. BNP Paribas has led the development of the market from sovereign green bonds to social and sustainability linked finance.

    16 Jun 2021
  • Unédic snags €2bn with 15 year social bond

    Unédic snags €2bn with 15 year social bond

    Unédic hit the market on Wednesday with a €2bn 15 year social benchmark, entering the market as the ripples from Tuesday's €20bn Next Generation EU bond print settled.

    16 Jun 2021
  • Generali markets first green cat bond

    Generali markets first green cat bond

    Generali is marketing the first green catastrophe bond, a €200m deal called Lion Re III laying off European windstorm and Italian earthquake risk. The structure takes its cue from the growing ESG risk transfer market for banks, which enhances the green impact of a given deal by recycling not just the funding received but the capital saved into green assets.

    16 Jun 2021
  • JBS shows SLB label is nothing without scrutiny

    JBS shows SLB label is nothing without scrutiny

    Brazilian meatpacker JBS made an apparently impressive entry into the world of ESG debt last week with a well received sustainability-linked bond (SLB). While an SLB is an encouraging first step for a company that has for years been under the scrutiny of environmental campaigners, the KPIs in the deal cover a fraction of the company’s emissions, and the deal shows investors need be tougher on SLB issuers if the format is to have value.

    15 Jun 2021
  • EU sends ‘very strong signal’ with €20bn debut NGEU bond

    EU sends ‘very strong signal’ with €20bn debut NGEU bond

    The European Union generated a blowout reception for its debut bond under the €800bn Next Generation EU (NGEU) programme on Tuesday, although it paid a sizeable new issue premium of 4bp-5bp according to senior bankers away from the deal.

    15 Jun 2021
  • Varta switches to ESG bank lines

    Varta switches to ESG bank lines

    Varta, a German battery maker, has signed a debut €235m sustainability-linked bank loan package, making the margin dependent on an improvement of its rating with a second party opinion provider.

    15 Jun 2021
  • Bayfront sells sustainability securitization first

    Bayfront sells sustainability securitization first

    Bayfront Infrastructure Management has sold the world's first public sustainability securitization deal that was part of a rare project finance trade. Its chief executive tells GlobalCapital Asia that this is unlikely to be its last.

    15 Jun 2021
  • Repsol lines up meetings for green and SLB transition plans

    Repsol lines up meetings for green and SLB transition plans

    Repsol, the Spanish oil and gas company, is lining up investor meetings to show off its freshly published transition financing framework, after being the first oil major to bring a divisive green bond that is due to mature next year.

    14 Jun 2021
  • Ico CFO wants EU social taxonomy

    Ico CFO wants EU social taxonomy

    Antonio Cordero Gomez, chief financial officer of Instituto de Crédito Oficial, spoke to GlobalCapital about the need for continued innovation in the world of ESG labelled bonds, and about Ico’s role in fighting the economic consequences of coronavirus.

    14 Jun 2021
  • ESG deals dominate FIG pipeline

    ESG deals dominate FIG pipeline

    Three European banks are lining up trades to finance their environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives this week, with more than half of euro FIG bond issuance arriving in labelled formats in June so far.

    14 Jun 2021
  • Nouryon spin-out launches debt package

    Nouryon spin-out launches debt package

    Nobian, the industrial chemicals unit of Nouryon, launched the debt package for its spinout on Friday, offering up a €1.19bn ESG-linked five year term loan 'B' through Credit Suisse, HSBC and JP Morgan. This will be followed by a bond deal, which is yet to be announced, to complete the €1.615bn senior secured financing.

    14 Jun 2021
  • Dirty sectors produce hot SLBs but credibility questioned

    Dirty sectors produce hot SLBs but credibility questioned

    The nascent sustainability-linked bond (SLB) faced a big test this week with deals from the oil, power and steel sectors, and most notably from Brazil meat processor, JBS. But if the enthusiastic reception to the deals suggested the market passed with flying colours, there were calls for more scrutiny of the relevance of KPIs if the SLB label is to mean anything. Oliver West reports.

    10 Jun 2021
  • EU to ‘test depth’ of bond market with Next Gen summer splash

    EU to ‘test depth’ of bond market with Next Gen summer splash

    Bring it on. That was the summary of the European Union’s investor call on Tuesday as it laid out its bold issuance plan to tackle its €800bn Next Generation EU (NGEU) funding programme. The EU could raise up to €45bn before the end of July, with the first deal set to hit screens early next week, reports Burhan Khadbai.

    10 Jun 2021
  • Greek banks shift focus to MREL, green bonds after landmark Piraeus AT1

    Greek banks shift focus to MREL, green bonds after landmark Piraeus AT1

    Piraeus Bank showed the depth of investor demand for high-yielding bank debt this week when it brought the first additional tier one (AT1) out of Greece with one of lowest ratings ever seen in the market. Greek banks are now expected to turn their attention to the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL), where green labels and sustainability-linked structures could help them achieve their goals.

    10 Jun 2021
  • First GBP update since 2018 calls for holistic disclosure

    First GBP update since 2018 calls for holistic disclosure

    The Green and Social Bond Principles organisation published the first new version of the Green Bond Principles since 2018 on Thursday. It strengthens the recommendations that issuers publish a bond framework and obtain an external review, and encourages issuers to communicate about their organisation-wide sustainability efforts, not just the assets linked to the labelled bond.

    10 Jun 2021