Vasakronan is a Swedish property company with investments in Stockholm, Uppsala, Gothenburg, Malmö and Lund. They've just issued a SEK 1.3 billion Green Bond, with the proceeds going to finance upgrades of some existing buildings and new building construction to LEED Gold or better, or BREAM certification. Vasakronan properties have an energy consumption which is apparently 47% below average. The last point is important because LEED and BREAM are input standards and do not always correlate with efficient carbon performance; we're waiting to see more detail on the assessment process.
Bookrunner was SEB; they tell us there were 16 investors, including names like AP3 and Nordea Investment Management. Specific green mandated investors took 90% of the deal. Oslo climate research centre CICERO did the third party review. The pricing was in line with Vasakronan’s ordinary pricing.
This is the beginning of what we believe will be a long run of corporate climate and green bonds over the coming 12 months.
