Green and Social Bonds and Loans

  • LBBW mandates leads for first green sterling non-preferred

    LBBW mandates leads for first green sterling non-preferred

    Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) is set to become the first issuer of green non-preferred senior paper in the sterling bond market, as well as the first financial institution to include sustainability ratings in a new deal mandate.

    17 Jan 2020

  • Chilean corps tick over as sovereign preps green deal

    Chemicals company SQM became the latest Chilean firm to issue internationally on Thursday, as the country’s corporates continue to take advantage of high levels of liquidity to pre-fund ahead of a potentially volatile year.

    16 Jan 2020
  • Corporate green bond issuance hits record levels

    Corporate green bond issuance hits record levels

    The European socially responsible investment corporate bond market has made a rampant start this year, with issuance in the first two weeks already more than 10% of the total issued by companies in European currencies in 2019.

    16 Jan 2020
  • NordLB Lux mandates for first renewable energy deal, again

    NordLB Lux mandates for first renewable energy deal, again

    NordLB Luxembourg was expected to arrive in the market with its inaugural renewable energy covered bond late last year, having completed a market programme and mandated lead managers. On Thursday it finally plucked up the courage to re-announce the long-awaited deal — the first to be ever issued under the country’s new law.

    16 Jan 2020
  • Investors look to transition bonds to fund CEE’s sustainability transition

    Investors look to transition bonds to fund CEE’s sustainability transition

    Transition bonds are likely to be a key part of the development of a sustainable economy in central and eastern Europe, delegates said at the Euromoney Central and Eastern European Forum in Vienna this week. While investors are keen to put money to work in the region, government support is still needed.

    16 Jan 2020
  • Turkish bank gets the green light

    Turkish bank gets the green light

    Turkish lender Yapi Kredi ventured into the green bond market for the first time on Friday with a rare dollar private placement, its first since January 2016, according to Dealogic data.

    14 Jan 2020
  • Posco makes comeback with dollar/euro bonanza

    Posco makes comeback with dollar/euro bonanza

    South Korean steel company Posco made a blockbuster return to the debt market on Monday, raising $940m from dollar investors and €500m from the European market. The peak order book of about $5.75bn for the dollar portions reflected investors’ eagerness to take on investment grade risk.

    14 Jan 2020
  • Goldman brings first green CMBS deal to Europe

    Goldman brings first green CMBS deal to Europe

    Goldman Sachs is bringing River Green Finance 2020, the first European commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) of the year and the first in Europe to be marketed as green.

    13 Jan 2020
  • Orderbooks bulge as corporate bonds turn green

    Orderbooks bulge as corporate bonds turn green

    Environmentally minded investors piled into green and sustainable corporate bond issues in Europe on Monday, with deals for Energias de Portugal, South Korean steel company Posco and National Grid garnering around €10.3bn of demand.

    13 Jan 2020
  • National Grid makes roaring green euro debut

    National Grid makes roaring green euro debut

    The UK’s National Grid Electricity Transmission made a barnstorming entrance to the green bond market on Monday, cutting its spread and winning a bumper book for its first euro bond issue in more than a decade.

    13 Jan 2020
  • EFSF grabs big book for 30 year as EIB, CEB and sovereigns hit screens

    EFSF grabs big book for 30 year as EIB, CEB and sovereigns hit screens

    The European Financial Stability Facility took the spotlight in the euro public sector bond market on Monday with an intraday execution ahead of a busy week. The European Investment Bank, Council of Europe Development Bank, Spain and Cyprus have all announced new deals.

    13 Jan 2020

  • Climate and digitisation to dominate SSAs’ 2020

    An unusual note of optimism defines the attitude of Europe’s public sector issuers as they approach 2020. While many other markets are beset by fears of a slowdown in global growth, trade wars, and Brexit, SSA borrowers are confident in their borrowing strategies and loyal investor bases. Despite a change of face in the ECB’s top job, rates are still set to remain low for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, investors are having to grit their teeth to stomach the scanty yields on offer for euro SSA assets. Although SSAs are offering little in the way of yield, their place as pioneers of the evolving SRI market always ensures lively debate. In this roundtable, held in early November, market participants on both the buyside and the sell side favoured a more holistic assessment of issuers’ ESG profiles, rather than relying on labelled assets, but whether or not the ECB should take a role in promoting the SRI market through “green QE” divided the group.

    13 Jan 2020
  • Shriram's social bond gets stellar US support

    Shriram's social bond gets stellar US support

    Shriram Transport Finance Co appealed to investors in the US by selling a social bond that flew off the shelves, allowing the Indian non-banking financial company to raise $500m.

    10 Jan 2020
  • LMA to guide banks on how to avoid greenwashing in sustainable loans

    LMA to guide banks on how to avoid greenwashing in sustainable loans

    The loan market’s trade bodies are preparing to give new guidance about how to ensure sustainability-linked loans — in which borrowers can get a margin reduction if they hit sustainability targets — are genuinely “ambitious”. Bankers want to protect the market from rising concerns that some deals’ terms are too easy on the borrowers.

    09 Jan 2020
  • Finanzagentur sure green Bunds will be liquid

    Finanzagentur sure green Bunds will be liquid

    Germany’s debt management office, the Finanzagentur, is confident its green bonds will be liquid when the first issue is launched in the second half of 2020 and has high hopes that they will trade tightly relative to ordinary Bunds. Its innovative plan to use a “twin bond” structure is designed to reassure investors and remove any doubt about liquidity.

    09 Jan 2020
  • Maple market opens with green shoots

    Maple market opens with green shoots

    A pair of supranationals opened the Maple market with sustainability bonds this week. The Canadian green market is “going through a growth phase” as more and more domestic investors show interest in the product, according to bankers.

    09 Jan 2020
  • E.On, Red Electrica power up green bonds

    E.On, Red Electrica power up green bonds

    Green corporate bond investors had plenty to sink their teeth into on Thursday, with electric utlities E.On bringing three tranches and Red Electrica making its debut in the format.

    09 Jan 2020
  • Spain to be enthusiastic, classical green issuer

    Spain to be enthusiastic, classical green issuer

    Spain’s formation on Monday of a Socialist-led coalition government, even one with no parliamentary majority, has opened the way for the country to press ahead with launching its first green bond. The deal of about €5bn is likely to be syndicated in the second half of 2020, and could prove one of the prize mandates of the year for banks to compete for.

    09 Jan 2020
  • BMW and Digital Realty go long term

    BMW and Digital Realty go long term

    European corporate bond issuers started pushing out their debt maturities on Wednesday, as BMW Finance and Digital Realty issued 10 year and longer paper, even though some investors are keen to rein in duration in their portfolios.

    08 Jan 2020
  • Faber-Castell pencils in sustainability-linked SSD

    Faber-Castell pencils in sustainability-linked SSD

    Faber-Castell, the German manufacturer of office supplies, was the second borrower to enter the Schuldschein market in 2020, offering five and seven year notes with a sustainability-linked ratchet on Wednesday.

    08 Jan 2020
  • World Bank readies sustainable Maple deal

    World Bank readies sustainable Maple deal

    The World Bank hit screens on Monday with a mandate for a new five year sustainable development Maple bond — its first public Canadian dollar issue since September.

    06 Jan 2020
  • National Grid returns to euros for green debut

    National Grid returns to euros for green debut

    The UK’s National Grid Electricity Transmission is set to make its debut green bond issue in euros, when it returns to the currency for the first time for more than a decade.

    06 Jan 2020

  • Chilean issuers remain bullish as CMPC leads Lat Am off the blocks

    Chile’s head of international finance has told GlobalCapital that the debt management office is making communication with investors its number one priority as it announced borrowing plans — including an atypically large amount of international issuance — earlier than usual after a turbulent fourth quarter.

    06 Jan 2020
  • Green finance grows in Middle East as Etihad signs loan

    Green finance grows in Middle East as Etihad signs loan

    Etihad Airways has signed a €100m loan linked to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The deal is one of the latest ESG-linked financings signed in the Middle East, which is developing an appetite for sustainability-linked debt.

    02 Jan 2020
  • Innovations shake green bond market out of its comfort zone

    Innovations shake green bond market out of its comfort zone

    For several years, the green bond market has spread geographically, attracted new kinds of issuer and new assets — but structurally, it has remained stable. Now that is changing. The urgency of climate change has made swathes of the economy realise they must go green. New products — transition bonds and sustainability-linked bonds — have been devised to help. But as Jon Hay reports, they will not be easy for the market to digest

    13 Dec 2019
  • Chinese banks boost green certified bond volumes

    Chinese banks boost green certified bond volumes

    Certified green bond issuance globally has reached new highs this year, boosted by transactions from some of China’s largest banks. But deal flow from the Mainland still remains focused on the onshore market, with just a small group of borrowers venturing out to international investors.

    09 Dec 2019
  • Italy eyes green debut in 2020

    Italy eyes green debut in 2020

    Italy is planning to issue its inaugural green bond in the second half of 2020, joining Germany and Sweden, who are also looking to sell their debut bonds in the format next year.

    06 Dec 2019