Ico wins new friends with record breaking debut social bond

Instituto de Crédito Oficial (Ico) has scored a hat trick with the first ever socially themed bond from a Spanish public sector borrower — printing the largest ever deal in the format, squeezing its spread over Spain to single figures, and welcoming new investors. That could encourage other issuers to add the social format to their funding mix, said bankers — although there were more reasons for Ico’s success than just altruistic investors, including the European Central Bank’s new quantitative easing programme.