Green and Social Bonds and Loans

  • Madrid ratchets in spread

    Madrid ratchets in spread

    Two SSA borrowers hit screens on Wednesday with green euro benchmarks, following a successful outing by Madrid, which saw the bond’s sustainability feature driving the spread to the tightest achieved at reoffer by a Spanish region.

    20 Feb 2020
  • UK's Cadent Gas to bring rare transition bond

    UK's Cadent Gas to bring rare transition bond

    Cadent Gas, the UK gas distribution network spun off by National Grid in 2017, will roadshow from Tuesday next week for a €500m transition bond. The deal is likely to delight green bond specialists who have championed the idea of transition bonds as a way to finance companies that are not green, but are moving towards lower carbon business models.

    20 Feb 2020
  • Mexico to market SDG linked bond

    Mexico to market SDG linked bond

    The Mexican finance ministry will visit fixed income investors in Europe next week to present the framework under which it hopes to issue bonds designed to finance expenditure in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    20 Feb 2020
  • STS is burden enough without shoehorning in ESG criteria

    STS is burden enough without shoehorning in ESG criteria

    With the environmental, social and governance revolution well under way, attention has turned to the securitization market after recent deals pushed the issue to the top of the agenda. There has been talk of retrofitting the ‘simple, transparent and standardised’ (STS) regulatory framework with a ‘green’ or ‘ESG’ category, but regulators should think twice before conflating both themes.

    18 Feb 2020
  • Local bonds for local people

    Local bonds for local people

    By opening up its debut social bond to retail investors, Munich highlighted an often overlooked strength of the socially responsible investment (SRI) market. Distributed correctly, these funding tools demonstrate the true impact of ethical investing.

    18 Feb 2020
  • Italy ‘analysing’ Enel’s sustainability-linked format

    Italy ‘analysing’ Enel’s sustainability-linked format

    Italy is considering the sustainability-linked bond format pioneered by Italian electricity and gas company Enel, but Davide Iacovoni, head of Italy’s debt management office, thinks the structure may not suit the sovereign’s priorities of ensuring liquidity and maximising reach.

    17 Feb 2020
  • Britvic opens lid on sustainability financing

    Britvic opens lid on sustainability financing

    UK soft drinks maker Britvic has signed its first sustainability-linked financing, joining a growing trend of companies offering to charity any margin benefit they gain on the loans hitting targets.

    17 Feb 2020

  • Dollar bond market back at full throttle

    The US bond new issue market was in full swing on Thursday as a United Technologies spin-off made its debut and credit shrugged off the coronavirus epidemic.

    13 Feb 2020
  • Ontario prints its first DMTN green bond

    Ontario prints its first DMTN green bond

    Ontario printed a first green bond off its domestic medium term note programme this week, and the deal was over six times covered. Demand for green provincial paper is high, with Ontario coming a week after neighbouring Quebec.

    13 Feb 2020
  • SGP locks in ‘strategic’ 50 year green as SSAs pile into SRI

    SGP locks in ‘strategic’ 50 year green as SSAs pile into SRI

    Société du Grand Paris hoovered up strong demand this week to sell the longest ever public syndicated green bond. The French agency was joined by three other public sector borrowers in raising socially responsible bonds this week, including the first European city to issue a social-labelled bond.

    13 Feb 2020
  • MuniFin coming for debut social bond in 2020

    MuniFin coming for debut social bond in 2020

    Municipality Finance will look to issue a debut social bond in the second half of this year, having just become the first borrower in Finland to publish a framework for the format.

    13 Feb 2020
  • AFD aiming for social bonds

    AFD aiming for social bonds

    Agence Française de Développement is looking to expand its thematic bond framework to include the issuance of social-labelled debt.

    12 Feb 2020
  • SGP takes size with 50 year green as Munich brings city first

    SGP takes size with 50 year green as Munich brings city first

    Société du Grand Paris impressed the SSA market on Tuesday with a series of superlatives. It sold its biggest ever bond with the longest ever maturity for a syndicated green bond in any asset class. The City of Munich hit another landmark with the first social bond from a European city.

    11 Feb 2020
  • Marel finds appetite for sustainability loan

    Marel finds appetite for sustainability loan

    Marel, the Icelandic company that makes food processing equipment, has signed a €700m revolving credit facility, becoming the latest investment grade borrower to switch its bank debt to a sustainability-linked structure.

    10 Feb 2020
  • IADB taps rupiah market for sustainable bond

    IADB taps rupiah market for sustainable bond

    The Inter-American Development Bank has sold its first Indonesian rupiah sustainable development bond, making it the seventh currency in which it has raised this kind of funding.

    10 Feb 2020
  • Bumper demand for Quebec green deal

    Bumper demand for Quebec green deal

    Demand for Quebec’s latest green bond was high with investors pouring into the C$500m ($376.2m) no-grow deal, leading to the books closing after only 20 minutes.

    06 Feb 2020
  • Great Portland brings ESG loans to UK REITs

    Great Portland brings ESG loans to UK REITs

    The UK's Great Portland Estates is laying claim to issuing the first ever environmental, social and governance linked revolving credit facility for a REIT in the jurisdiction, in a week of firsts for sustainable lending.

    06 Feb 2020
  • Sustainable lending breaks new ground as WSP signs

    Sustainable lending breaks new ground as WSP signs

    Canadian professional services firm WSP Global has signed a sustainability-linked syndicated loan, as the lending structure that allows a proxy green financing for revolving credit facilities pushes into new sectors.

    05 Feb 2020
  • Agencies score with ESG paper

    Agencies score with ESG paper

    The Japan Finance Organisation for Municipalities printed the first deal from its budding green bond programme on Tuesday, impressing onlookers with a large book and aggressive price move. The trade shared the market with a social housing bond from Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.

    04 Feb 2020

  • CDP lining up social housing bond

    Cassa Depositi e Prestiti will come to market on Tuesday with a 10 year euro benchmark financing social housing projects in Italy.

    03 Feb 2020
  • JFM coming to euros for green debut

    JFM coming to euros for green debut

    The Japan Finance Organisation for Municipalities has picked banks for its first ever green bond, opting to print in euros for only the second time in the borrower’s history.

    03 Feb 2020
  • EIB: standard-bearer of sustainable finance

    EIB: standard-bearer of sustainable finance

    For well over a decade, the cornerstone of the European Investment Bank’s sustainability funding policy has been the conviction that the financial services industry has a pivotal role to play in spearheading the battle against climate change. As the EU’s climate bank, it has also consistently recognised its responsibility for developing best practice, which in turn helps promote enhanced environmental and social standards across the global financial community.

    31 Jan 2020
  • Covered bonds to stay immune from viral scares

    Covered bonds to stay immune from viral scares

    January's total primary covered bond volume was the second highest since 2014, albeit 25% down on last year in euros. February is typically a much slower month, but supply could keep pace if issuers look to the asset class for execution certainty amid mounting concern around the potential impact of a new coronavirus in China.

    31 Jan 2020
  • Sustainable loans give banks strange urges

    Sustainable loans give banks strange urges

    New dynamics are appearing in the sustainability-linked loan market, as the product balloons and banks prepare for more intense scrutiny of their green lending activities. The trends highlight how unformed and confusing this young market still is, writes Jon Hay.

    30 Jan 2020
  • National Grid charges in with green MTN pair

    National Grid charges in with green MTN pair

    The UK's National Grid followed up early January’s well-received green bond debut with a pair of green bond MTNs from a subsidiary, printing in currencies it rarely visits.

    28 Jan 2020
  • SG names banks for second green covered bond

    SG names banks for second green covered bond

    Société Générale has mandated leads for a green covered bond, the second to be issued under its Positive Impact framework. At the same time Sparkasse Pforzheim Calw is due with a sub-benchmark Pfandbrief.

    28 Jan 2020
  • Chile’s green double wraps funding needs early

    Chile’s green double wraps funding needs early

    Chile completed its $3.3bn of external funding needs for the year in two days this week, tapping both euro and dollar markets for green bonds that EM accounts say are becoming increasingly important for their end investors.

    23 Jan 2020
  • GBP considers guidance on Enel-style bonds

    GBP considers guidance on Enel-style bonds

    The Green Bond Principles organisation has gone public with its plans to set up a working group on sustainability-linked bonds. It will be charged with working out whether the GBP should issue guidance on the new structure — a move that would ensure the GBP remains relevant as the sustainable finance market changes.

    23 Jan 2020
  • Supra duo tap SRI Kangaroos

    Supra duo tap SRI Kangaroos

    Two supranationals hopped into the Kangaroo market with environmental, social governance (ESG) bond taps this week, in a move that is becoming increasingly popular. With a local holiday this weekend marking the end of antipodean summer, bankers expect Australian dollar issuance to restart in the next few weeks.

    23 Jan 2020
  • Asian green bonds build on 2019 momentum

    Asian green bonds build on 2019 momentum

    Green bond volumes reached a record level in 2019 and market participants think the sector is poised for another blow-out year. Korea South-East Power Co (Kosep) and ReNew Power Private gave a further boost to Asia’s growing green bond market this week, selling $750m of notes between them. Morgan Davis reports.

    23 Jan 2020
  • Chile follows euros with green dollar deal

    Chile follows euros with green dollar deal

    The day after it sold €1.961bn of green bonds in the euro market, Chile jumped on borrower-friendly conditions in dollars to complete its higher than usual external funding needs for the year.

    23 Jan 2020
  • USPP market eyes Europe’s ESG model

    USPP market eyes Europe’s ESG model

    Several US private placement agents have told GlobalCapital that their market is finally starting to take sustainable financing seriously. But while there is an evident buzz, most feel that anything tangible, such as pricing advantages prompted by dedicated environmental, social and governance-focused funds, is still far off.

    23 Jan 2020
  • NLMK joins Russian sustainability-linked loan trend

    NLMK joins Russian sustainability-linked loan trend

    Novolipetsk Steel, one of Russia’s largest steel producers, has amended an existing loan to include sustainability-linked pricing. The deal is the latest in a string of green financings in the country.

    22 Jan 2020
  • LBBW raises £500m with first ever green sterling non-pref

    LBBW raises £500m with first ever green sterling non-pref

    Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) became the first issuer of non-preferred senior bonds in green format in sterling this week. The German lender took advantage of favourable market conditions to print in line with other recent sterling issuers.

    22 Jan 2020
  • Danish investors get green fingers

    Danish investors get green fingers

    A pair of supranationals have reopened Danish krone green bonds. Domestic interest in SSA paper has grown over the last year, with green issuance a primary driver.

    21 Jan 2020