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Corporate social bonds to take off, in varied formats
Market participants believe 2021 could be the year when social bonds become established as a more thriving and coherent market, after the breakthrough in volume during 2020, when issuance was swelled by the Covid-19 pandemic.
15 Jan 2021 -
Lat Am storms back with Thursday quartet
Four heavily oversubscribed Latin American new issues fetched tight pricing on Thursday, dispelling the unease felt at the week’s start and putting the region firmly on track to fulfil the predictions of record primary volumes for a January.
14 Jan 2021 -
Colombia to stay local for green debut, plots govvie ETF, social bond
Colombia tapped international bond markets for the first time since June this week. But its domestic bond market — which is 25% owned by foreign investors — could be in for a busier year, as the sovereign is set to turn to pesos for its debut green bond in July. It is also laying the ground for a social bond and a government bond ETF.
14 Jan 2021 -
For corporate social bonds, SLBs are way to go
Social bonds have long been the poor cousin of green bonds. A smaller, less well organised market.
14 Jan 2021 -
World Bank EUR2bn 0.2% Jan 61
14 Jan 2021 -
SURE programme poses questions for CEE DMOs
After a record breaking year for sovereign bond issuance in central and eastern Europe, 2021 could be a different story, thanks to the European Union's vast economic support packages that could reduce the need for many CEE countries to tap international bond markets.
14 Jan 2021 -
People news in brief
Natixis promotes DCM bankers — Powell quits IFAD job — NatWest Markets makes Peberdy, Donaldson and Manwaring's positions permanent
14 Jan 2021 -
LBBW EUR750m 0.375% Feb 31 bail-in senior social
14 Jan 2021 -
KfW sells South African rand green bond
KfW printed its first green bond in South African rand this week, reflecting the growth in demand for sustainable products outside of core currencies, according to a funding official at the agency.
14 Jan 2021 -
DNB issues most subscribed covered bond
DNB Boligkreditt issued a covered bond on Thursday that became its most oversubscribed covered bond ever, equalling the bank’s biggest ever order book. The deal, secured on green mortgages, was priced through its vanilla curve, clearly demonstrating the demand for covered bonds.
14 Jan 2021 -
SK Hynix dollar bonds spark investor rush
SK Hynix was overwhelmed with investor demand for its triple-tranche dollar deal on Wednesday. It raised $2.5bn, but non-stop demand drove the bonds nearly 20bp tighter in the secondary market on Thursday.
14 Jan 2021 -
Motability gets social bonds humming
Motability Operations, the UK non-profit company that leases cars and other vehicles to disabled people, won strong demand for its inaugural social bond on Wednesday, lending weight to the argument that the product will become a more prominent part of the capital markets this year.
13 Jan 2021 -
World Bank smashes 40 year euro debut amid red hot long end
World Bank extended its euro benchmark curve with flying colours on Wednesday, in a further sign of ample demand for duration amid a low yielding environment.
13 Jan 2021 -
Volvo Cars shifts green drive up a gear with sustainability loan on road to 2040
Volvo Cars, the Chinese-owned Swedish auto maker, has refinanced its main bank revolver with a €1.3bn sustainability-linked revolving credit facility, as the borrower looks to become climate neutral by 2040.
13 Jan 2021 -
Spain targets €5bn-€8bn green debut in second half of 2021
Spain is planning to issue its hotly anticipated inaugural green bond in the second half of the year through syndication in what will be the first step in the sovereign’s ambition to become a regular green issuer and build out a curve in the format.
13 Jan 2021 -
Sustainability-linked bonds: a win on several counts
With Asia’s sustainability-linked bond (SLB) market thrown wide open with the first transaction, there is a case to be made for the opportunities offered to both issuers and investors by this nascent asset class.
13 Jan 2021 -
City waits for divergence, or maybe equivalence
Anyone who thought the culmination of a trade deal between the EU and UK would provide a shining ray of clarity for financial services as to the level of market access between the two has been proved wrong. Little progress on regulatory equivalence decisions has been made, and while this points the way towards divergence, it is still unclear how exactly the UK would go about this.
12 Jan 2021 -
Powell quits as IFAD treasurer
Ben Powell is resigning from the position as treasurer of the International Fund for Agricultural Development after 15 months in the job.
12 Jan 2021 -
Triple whammy: KDB squeezes price on dollar deal
Korea Development Bank returned to the bond market on Monday with a three-tranche transaction, marketing one of the notes with a green label. Despite pricing its trade at one of the tightest levels seen among the country’s lenders, the borrower still received strong demand.
12 Jan 2021 -
Chinese banks battle for investor attention
Agricultural Bank of China and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co competed for investor orders on Monday. ABC, the bigger of the two and offering a green bond to the market, got more attention, while SPDB faced an uphill battle.
12 Jan 2021 -
Brazilian trio to extend Lat Am ESG surge
Six of the 11 Latin American borrowers to have priced or announced new cross-border bonds so far in 2021 have opted to show off their ESG credentials while doing so — either through dedicating the use of proceeds or by issuing in the more novel sustainability-linked format. Brazil is leading the way, with three further mandates on Monday.
12 Jan 2021 -
Sticks and carrots to drive broadening of sustainable finance
Practitioners believe 2021 could be the year when sustainable finance finally breaks out of the narrow confines it has inhabited so far and spreads more widely across the economy.
11 Jan 2021 -
CPPIB, EFSF and EIB light up euro SSA long end
The first public deals of the year in the long end of the euro curve from the supranational and agency sector arrived on Monday, with the trades receiving huge demand and pricing exceptionally tight to secondary levels.
11 Jan 2021 -
Sovcombank takes first ESG facility as Russian corps extend green pivot
Russia’s Sovcombank has entered the ESG loan market for the first time, raising a $350m syndicated loan. An increasing number of Russian corporates are turning to the green financing sector as a way to diversify funding.
11 Jan 2021 -
TIM makes sustainability debut
TIM, formerly Telecom Italia, had almost €4bn of demand for its debut sustainability bond on Monday, a €1bn eight year. The company put its sustainable financing framework in place last year, an umbrella document allowing it to raise green, social or sustainable finance in bond or loan format.
11 Jan 2021 -
Muted demand for LBBW social SNP
LBBW and Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) were met with muted demand on Monday morning as the pair ventured into a busier, yet weaker market in search of senior non-preferred debt.
11 Jan 2021 -
Green converts draw closer to mainstream status after busy 2020
Green and sustainability-linked convertible bonds are poised to enter the mainstream, following a year of rapid growth in the asset class.
11 Jan 2021 -
NWD cements ESG credentials with sustainability-linked bond debut
New World Development Co printed Asia ex-Japan’s first sustainability-linked bond last week, raising $200m from the transaction. The Hong Kong-based property developer's deputy chief financial officer and its head of sustainability spoke to GlobalCapital Asia on Monday about why the firm ventured into this asset class and the challenges it faced.
11 Jan 2021 -
Spain set to make green bond debut in 2021
The Spanish Treasury has announced its funding outlook for the year, including a commitment to launch a green bond programme.
08 Jan 2021 -
EIB impresses with Kanga CAB
European Investment Bank kicked off a strong first week of issuance with an impressive outing in the Kangaroo market, raising A$1.25bn ($973.2m) with a Climate Awareness Bond.
08 Jan 2021 -
Huhtamaki takes sustainability loan as single-use plastics outlawed
Huhtamaki, the Finnish food packaging company, has refinanced a €400m facility, with the borrower becoming the latest to add sustainability metrics to its main bank line as an EU ban on single-use plastics comes into force.
08 Jan 2021 -
BOC makes ‘big bang’ move with maiden transition bond
Bank of China sold its debut transition bond on Thursday, giving the still nascent market a big boost by opting for a dual currency dollar and renminbi deal.
08 Jan 2021 -
TSKB joins Turkish sustainable bandwagon
The Industrial Development Bank of Turkey, Turkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi (TSKB), has launched its debut sustainable bond, the latest in a string of Turkish bank issuers that have forayed into the ESG financing market over the last year.
07 Jan 2021 -
Carlyle launches sustainable loan for Siemens gearing carve-out
Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and UniCredit have launched the buyout funding for Carlyle’s €2bn purchase of Flender, a company making wind turbine gearing, from Siemens. On offer is a €1.045bn term loan 'B' in sustainable format, plus a €150m revolver and €125m guarantee facility.
07 Jan 2021 -
CreditAg names new Apac sustainability head
Crédit Agricole has named Victoria Land as its new head of sustainable banking for Asia Pacific.
07 Jan 2021 -
SLB format drives massive book as Klabin prices tight
Latin American DCM bankers hailed Brazilian paper company Klabin’s first sustainability-linked bond (SLB) as an encouraging sign for the ESG debt market in the region, as a huge order book allowed the issuer to tighten by 55bp from initial price thoughts and land well inside its curve.
07 Jan 2021 -
Brazil’s BTG bounds to green
Bankers said that Brazilian bank BTG Pactual achieved tighter pricing on its green bond than it would have done on a conventional bond, after it became the first Latin American private sector bank to issue such a benchmark in US markets.
07 Jan 2021 -
Voltalia’s maiden green convertible attracts strong bid
Europe’s primary equity-linked market has reopened for 2021, with a debut €200m green convertible bond issued by Voltalia, the French renewable energy company.
06 Jan 2021 -
BOC readies transition bond to meet China’s carbon goals
The nascent transition bond market is set to get a boost after Bank of China announced plans for a new deal in both dollars and offshore renminbi.
06 Jan 2021 -
BTG joins Lat Am’s burgeoning ESG deal pipeline
Brazilian bank BTG Pactual became the third Latin American issuer to announce plans to issue ESG-related debt this year after it mandated for a potential senior unsecured green bond.
06 Jan 2021 -
Dollar SSA market springs to life
The dollar SSA market leapt into action on Tuesday with an impressive deal from the European Investment Bank. Two more are set to follow on Wednesday, including a 10 year benchmark.
05 Jan 2021 -
Klabin sets three KPIs for Brazil’s second SLB
Brazil paper company Klabin began calls with investors on Monday as it looks to become the second Brazilian company to sell a sustainability-linked bond. The size of the potential coupon step-up differs depending on which of three sustainability performance indicators Klabin might fail to meet.
05 Jan 2021 -
MercadoLibre to include sustainable tranche in debut deal
Latin America’s largest e-commerce company, MercadoLibre, has mandated five banks ahead of a debut bond offering that will include one tranche of sustainable bonds.
05 Jan 2021 -
Italy to enter green bond market in 2021
Italy is at an advanced stage with its green bond framework with a highly anticipated debut deal in the format expected to arrive this year, according to the Italian Treasury.
04 Jan 2021 -
Asia bond market at full throttle in new year
The Asian dollar bond market reopened with a bang on Monday as six borrowers launched new transactions, with DCM bankers preparing for a busy January.
04 Jan 2021 -
France to lead global covered bond issuance in 2021
Covered bond issuance from France is likely to be the highest from any country next year, reflecting the sheer size of the market, high redemptions and banks' propensity to use covered bonds for market funding rather than for repo funding at the central bank.
27 Dec 2020 -
EU plans law for its own green bonds in 2021
The European Union will introduce a law early next year to oblige member states to report on how they are spending Next Generation EU funds, to support the bloc’s plan to issue green bonds.
22 Dec 2020 -
The GlobalCapital DCM survey: banks look ahead to restriction-free second half
Public sector bond issuers surprised on the upside in 2020. In 2021, banks predict them to be big borrowers again — and they expect to make money from them. Twenty-six heads of debt capital markets in the EMEA market participated in Toby Fildes’ annual outlook survey. Only a few firms are expecting to have to cut jobs, but the UK will bear the brunt. On the eve of Brexit taking full effect, Paris, Frankfurt and Dublin look set to be the winning cities. Good news for all: 80% of banks see the last significant Covid restrictions being lifted by the second half of 2021.
18 Dec 2020 -
Social bonds must build own network after breakthrough
The pandemic led to an astonishing surge in the issuance of social bonds this year. But for it to develop further, there needs to be a dedicated investor base, a more diverse range of issuers and a clear understanding of what is meant by social finance. Burhan Khadbai reports.
17 Dec 2020 -
Sure-footed super-sized EU arrives in style
The EU began its evolution in 2020 in becoming one of the largest issuers in the capital markets. While it was plain sailing for the first few deals, there are bigger tests ahead in 2021, with the EU’s borrowing set to balloon even further in size. Burhan Khadbai reports.
17 Dec 2020