The Awards were presented at the close of GlobalCapital’s Sustainable and Responsible Capital Markets conference in Amsterdam on Tuesday September 17.
Like all GlobalCapital’s bond Awards, they are decided by a poll of market participants, in this case conducted in June-July. The Awards cover activity in sustainable financing between July 2018 and June 2019.
Investment banks, investors and other market participants chose the Netherlands’ €6bn debut green bond as the Most Innovative Green/SRI Bond Deal of the Year, reflecting in part the kingdom’s use of a Dutch Direct Auction and pre-classification of green investors for favourable allocations. Elvira Eurlings, agent at the Dutch State Treasury Agency (pictured), collected the Award.
The Republic of Chile romped home with the Latin American deal award for its $1.4bn 30 year debut in June — second in the category was Chile’s €860m follow-up deal a week later.
Hong Kong’s government took the Asia Pacific award with its $1bn debut in May, the long-awaited first instalment of its HK$100bn ($12.8bn) programme.
The other two deals of the year were both for telecoms companies: Telefónica’s €1bn green debut in January, one of the first in the sector, and Verizon Communications’ $1bn issue a few weeks later.
The Green/SRI Loan of the Year, an increasingly important category, went to Sydney Airport, for its A$1.4bn debut sustainability-linked syndicated loans in May, led by ANZ and BNP Paribas.
However, market participants chose different borrowers for the issuer Awards. Winning the top prize, Overall Most Impressive Green/SRI Bond Issuer, was a new issuer, Société du Grand Paris, which is building new railway lines around Paris and is raising all its debt in green form.
Caisse Française de Financement Local (Caffil) won Most Impressive Social or Sustainability Bond Issuer, while Aldo Romani of the European Investment Bank regained the title of best Green/SRI Bond Funding Official. Last year he had ceded it to his colleague Eila Kreivi.
Sean Kidney of the Climate Bonds Initiative was Most Influential Champion of the Market, while the EU Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities was voted Most Valuable Innovation for the Green Finance Market.
The European Investment Bank was named best supranational issuer, KfW the best government or government agency, and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia the best local government issuer.
Berlin Hyp, the German mortgage bank that issued the first green covered bond in 2015, continued its remarkable run of success at the Awards, adding the title of Most Impressive Bank Issuer, and retaining two it had won the year before: best covered bond issuer and Best Issuer for Post-Deal or Impact Reporting.
For the second year running, Iberdrola was crowned best corporate issuer and Fannie Mae best ABS issuer.
In the Awards for investment banks and other market participants, where issuers could also vote, Crédit Agricole retained its triple crown of overall best bank, best in EMEA and having the best individual banker, in Tanguy Claquin.
HSBC kept Asia Pacific, but Bank of America Merrill Lynch eased out JP Morgan in the Americas.
The new Award of Most Impressive Investment Bank for Green/SRI Loans went to ING.
Amundi, joint winner last year with Mirova, this year took the title of Most Impressive Investment Firm on its own.
Alban de Faÿ, head of fixed income SRI processes at Amundi, also collected the Award for Most Valuable Innovation for the Social and Sustainability Finance Market, on behalf of the
Social Bond Principles organisation, where Amundi is a leading member of the social bonds working group. The Award was for the SBP's guidance on Working Towards a Harmonised Framework for Impact Reporting for Social Bonds.
White & Case was best law firm for the second year running.
DEALS OF THE YEAR
Most Innovative Green/SRI Bond Deal of the Year
Kingdom of the Netherlands
€5.99bn 0.5% 20.6 year debut green bond, issued May 2019
ABN Amro (structuring adviser), Crédit Agricole (independent green consultant), HSBC and Nordea (advisers)
Sustainalytics (second party opinion)
2 Telefónica
€1bn 1.07% five year debut green bond, issued January 2019
BBVA, Crédit Agricole, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Santander (bookrunners)
Sustainalytics (second party opinion)
3= Caisse Française de Financement Local (Caffil)
€1bn 0.5% eight year debut social covered bond, issued February 2019
BayernLB, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, ING, Société Générale (bookrunners)
Sustainalytics (second party opinion)
3= Koninklijke Philips
€750m 0.5% seven year debut green and sustainability innovation bond, issued May 2019
Rabobank (sustainability structuring adviser), BNP Paribas, HSBC, ING, MUFG (active bookrunners)
Sustainalytics (second party opinion)
Latin American Green/SRI Bond Deal of the Year
Republic of Chile
$1.42bn 3.5% 30.6 year debut green bond, issued June 2019
BNP Paribas, Citigroup, HSBC (bookrunners)
Vigeo Eiris (second party opinion)
2 Republic of Chile
€861m 0.83% 12 year green bond, issued June 2019
Crédit Agricole, JP Morgan, Société Générale (bookrunners)
Vigeo Eiris (second party opinion)
North American Green/SRI Bond Deal of the Year
Verizon Communications
$1bn 3.875% 10 year debut green bond, issued February 2019
Bank of America Merrill Lynch (green structuring agent), Goldman Sachs (bookrunners)
Sustainalytics (second party opinion)
2 Starbucks
$1bn 4.45% 30.3 year sustainability bond, issued May 2019
Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, US Bancorp, Wells Fargo, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (bookrunners)
Sustainalytics (second party opinion)
3= Avangrid
$750m 3.8% 10 year green bond, issued May 2019
Crédit Agricole (green structuring agent), Citigroup, MUFG, Wells Fargo, BBVA, Deutsche Bank, NatWest Markets, TD Securities (bookrunners)
Vigeo Eiris (second party opinion)
3= World Bank
€1.5bn 0.25% 10 year sustainable development bond, issued May 2019
Barclays, JP Morgan, Natixis, TD Securities (bookrunners)
EMEA Green/SRI Bond Deal of the Year
Telefónica
€1bn 1.07% five year debut green bond, issued January 2019
BBVA, Crédit Agricole, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Santander (bookrunners)
Sustainalytics (second party opinion)
2 State of North Rhine-Westphalia
€2.25bn 1.1% 15 year sustainability bond, issued March 2019
Deka Bank, DZ Bank, HSBC, ING, Nomura, Société Générale (bookrunners)
ISS-Oekom (second party opinion)
3= Instituto de Crédito Oficial
€500m 0.2% 4.8 year debut green bond, issued April 2019
BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, ING, Santander (bookrunners)
Sustainalytics (second party opinion)
3= KfW Bankengruppe
€3bn 0.01% eight year green bond, issued May 2019
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Crédit Agricole, UniCredit (bookrunners)
Asia Pacific Green/SRI Bond Deal of the Year
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
$1bn 2.5% five year debut green bond, issued May 2019
Crédit Agricole, HSBC (structuring agents, bookrunners)
Vigeo Eiris (second party opinion)
2 Republic of Korea
$500m 2% five year debut green and sustainability bond, issued June 2019
Crédit Agricole (structuring agent), Citigroup, HSBC, JP Morgan (bookrunners)
Sustainalytics (second party opinion)
3 Westpac Securities NZ
€500m 0.3% five year debut green bond, issued June 2019
DZ Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, Westpac (bookrunners)
DNV GL (second party opinion)
Green/SRI Loan of the Year
Sydney Airport
A$1.4bn three, four and five year debut sustainability-linked syndicated loans, signed May 2019
ANZ, BNP Paribas (sustainability coordinators and bookrunners)
2 Electricité de France
€4bn sustainability KPI-linked five year syndicated loan, signed December 2018
Crédit Agricole (coordinator, facility agent), ING, Natixis (sustainability coordinators)
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mizuho Bank, MUFG, NatWest Markets, Société Générale, Santander, UniCredit (bookrunners)
3 Carrefour
€3.9bn corporate social responsibility-linked five year club revolving credit facilities, signed June 2019
Société Générale (coordinator)
BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel-CIC, HSBC, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, Natixis, Santander, UniCredit (bookrunners)
4 Nokia
€1.5bn sustainability-linked loan, signed June 2019
Citigroup, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Nordea (coordinators)
ANZ, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of China, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, OP Corporate Bank, Santander, SEB, Standard Chartered, UniCredit (bookrunners)
ISSUERS
Overall Most Impressive Green/SRI Bond Issuer
Société du Grand Paris
2= Berlin Hyp
2= European Investment Bank
2= KfW
Most Impressive Social or Sustainability Bond Issuer
Caisse Française de Financement Local (Caffil)
2= Deutsche Kreditbank
2= NWB Bank
2= State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Most Impressive Green/SRI Loan Borrower
Sydney Airport
2 Electricité de France
3 Carrefour
Most Impressive Green/SRI Bond Funding Official
Aldo Romani, European Investment Bank
2 Bodo Winkler, Berlin Hyp
3 Eila Kreivi, European Investment Bank
4 Isabelle Laurent, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Most Impressive Supranational Green/SRI Bond Issuer
European Investment Bank
2 World Bank
3= African Development Bank
3= International Finance Corp
Most Impressive Government or Government Agency Green/SRI Bond Issuer
KfW
2 The Netherlands
3 Société du Grand Paris
4 France
Most Impressive Local Government Green/SRI Bond Issuer
State of North Rhine-Westphalia
2 Community of Madrid
3= New South Wales Treasury Corp
3= Walloon Region
Most Impressive Bank Green/SRI Bond Issuer
Berlin Hyp
2 ING
3 Landesbank Baden-Württemberg
Most Impressive Corporate Green/SRI Debt Issuer
Iberdrola
2 Sydney Airport
3 Engie
Most Impressive Green/SRI Covered Bond Issuer
Berlin Hyp
2 Caisse Française de Financement Local (Caffil)
3 Landesbank Baden-Württemberg
Most Impressive Green/SRI ABS Issuer
Fannie Mae
2 Freddie Mac
3 Obvion
Best-Designed Green/SRI Debt Framework
Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations
2= KfW
2= Société du Grand Paris
Best Green/SRI Issuer for Post-Deal or Impact Reporting
Berlin Hyp
2= International Finance Corp
2= KfW
INVESTMENT BANKS
Overall Most Impressive Investment Bank for Green/SRI Capital Markets
Crédit Agricole
2 HSBC
3 BNP Paribas
4 ING
Most Impressive Investment Bank for Green/SRI Loans
ING
2 Crédit Agricole
3 BNP Paribas
Most Impressive Green/SRI Investment Banker
Tanguy Claquin, Crédit Agricole
2= Christopher Flensborg, SEB
2= Marilyn Ceci, JP Morgan
Most Impressive Investment Bank for Americas Green/SRI Capital Markets
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
2 JP Morgan
3 Citigroup
4 HSBC
Most Impressive Investment Bank for EMEA Green/SRI Capital Markets
Crédit Agricole
2 ING
3 HSBC
4 SEB
Most Impressive Investment Bank for Asia Pacific Green/SRI Capital Markets
HSBC
2= Bank of America Merrill Lynch
2= Crédit Agricole
2= Nomura
INVESTORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS
Most Impressive Green/SRI Investment Firm
Amundi
2 Axa Investment Managers
3 BlackRock
4= Actiam
4= Affirmative Investment Management
Most Impressive Green/SRI Investor
Ashley Schulten, BlackRock
2 Alban de Faÿ, Amundi
3 Johanna Köb, Zurich Insurance
Most Impressive Second Opinion Provider or Rating Agency
Sustainalytics
2 ISS-Oekom
3 Cicero
4 Vigeo Eiris
Most Impressive Environmental Impact Consultant
Carbone 4
2 Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
Best Green/SRI Law Firm
White & Case
2= Allen & Overy
2= Linklaters
GENERAL AWARDS
Most Influential Champion of the Market
Sean Kidney, Climate Bonds Initiative
2 Aldo Romani, European Investment Bank
3 Tanguy Claquin, Crédit Agricole
4 Christopher Flensborg, SEB
Most Valuable Innovation for the Green Finance Market
EU Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities
2 EU Green Bond Standard
3 Axa Investment Managers’ guidelines for transition bonds
Most Valuable Innovation for the Social and Sustainability Finance Market
Social Bond Principles’ guidance on Working Towards a Harmonised Framework for Impact Reporting for Social Bonds
2= EU Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities
2= Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles from the LMA, APLMA and LSTA