Asset growth, EU sustainable finance initiatives and pricing benefits could all help green bond supply rise to meet the growing demands of investors, according to speakers at an LBBW conference on 1 March, where a broadening of issuance, particularly into social bonds, was called for.
Caffil sold the first French covered bond in either green or social format on Tuesday, a EUR1bn eight year healthcare deal that drew over EUR2.6bn of orders and marginally outperformed the most recent comparable supply, according to a lead, while Moody’s said the ESG move is credit positive.
Caffil is roadshowing a social bond that is set to be the first social or green covered bond from France, with the proceeds refinancing loans to public hospitals, and the group plans to follow up the debut with green covered bonds later this year and potentially social issuance from parent SFIL.
Italy’s UBI Banca is holding a non-deal roadshow for a new sustainable bond framework next week, with Norway’s DNB also planning a new, non-covered green bond programme for 2019 and Austria’s RLB Oberösterreich considering such issuance.
Korea Housing Finance Corporation issued the first green or social covered bond from Asia and the first Korean euro covered bond on Wednesday, a EUR500m no-grow five year social issue that attracted EUR1.5bn of demand achieved the issuer’s goal of diversifying into European and SRI investors.
Deutsche Kreditbank has become the first German bank to sell both green and social bonds, with a EUR500m debut social public sector covered bond on Tuesday, whose status helped it evade the impact of a cut in ECB QE buying. Mortgage Pfandbriefe could in future be added to its ESG funding suite, according to DKB’s head of treasury.
Korea Housing Finance Corporation (KHFC) will next week begin marketing an inaugural social covered bond – the proceeds of which will be used to support affordable housing – which will be the first sustainable covered bond from Asia. Deutsche Kreditbank is meanwhile set to sell a social debut tomorrow (Tuesday).
Deutsche Kreditbank (DKB) is preparing to issue an inaugural social covered bond, the leading green bond issuer having yesterday (Wednesday) announced a roadshow for a EUR500m issue backed by loans to public sector entities, which will be its first benchmark covered bond in three years.
Rabobank has launched a EUR5bn “ESG Leader” commercial paper and certificates of deposit programme that it can only issue off as long as it is ranked in the top 5% of companies by Sustainalytics, and an official at the Dutch issuer told Sustainabonds that the first sale already offered it a cost saving.
Investors active in green bonds stressed the importance of accountability and impact reporting offered by bonds aligned with the Green and Social Bond Principles, but showed flexibility in their investment strategies, in responses to a survey that evinced a mainstreaming of the product.
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