In the meantime you can read their media statement at: http://td.mediaroom.com/2014-03-28-TD-leads-environmental-commitment-with-the-TD-Green-Bond
BTW, Royal Bank of Canada is holding a green bonds forum in Toronto next Wednesday. Could it be that TD was trying to head off their arch-competitor?
This week leading Swedish personal care and forest products company Svenska Cellulosa AB (SCA) released their first green bond at SEK 1.5 billion ($232 million). It was issued in two tranches: one SEK 1 billion floating rate note at three-month STIBOR +0,68% and one SEK 500 million fixed rate tranche at 2.5%. The bond has been issued under the company’s Euro Medium Term Note program.
By Bridget Boulle
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has launched its first Sterling Climate Awareness Bond, a GBP500 million, 6 year bond. This is the 9th Climate Awareness Bond EIB have issued so far this year (including taps) putting them at the top of the 2014 issuer pile with $2.94bn so far.
By Bridget Boulle
Unilever last week joined the green bonds market with a landmark Sterling ‘Green Sustainability’ bond linked to their “Sustainable Living Plan”. This is a 4 year corporate bond, £250 million, 2% fixed rate.
The initial price indication given was G + 70-75 bps, before being refined to G+ 70 area. The deal finally priced at G + 67 bps “off the back of strong investor momentum”.
The bond was more than 3 times oversubscribed within 3 hours! There were more than 100 investors, mainly fund managers, pension funds and insurers, with a number of first-time buyers of Unilever bonds, attracted by the green aspect.
I know it's not fashionable in these post-crisis days, but have you ever thought of all the individual time and effort that gets saved when you replace a hodge-podge collection of bitsy currency rates with one? About the huge risk management - and paperwork - load it would from business as international trade flows grow as a percentage of the world economy?
As eminent Harvard economist, Professor Richard Cooper says, "by eliminating monetary and exchange rates as sources of asymmetric shocks among participating countries, a common currency will conduce to more stable economic activity ...."
The World Bank Green Bond we told you about last week ended up closing at EUR550 million rather than the expected EUR400 million on the back of strong demand.
The bonds were placed with 21 investors, including Aegon, AP2, Barclays Treasury, Blackrock, Caisse Centrale de Reassurance, Ikea Group, Pictet, SEB Asset Management, SNS Asset Management, Standish Mellon Asset Management Company LLC, Zurich Insurance Group and Zwitserleven. It seems all the investors were interested in the climate aspects of the bond.
The European Investment Bank has been busy. A fortnight ago they "tapped" (see our recent post for what that means) their 2013 six year Climate Awareness Bond for another EUR250 million. Underwriter was Deutsche Bank.
Then last week they tapped their 4 year South African Rand (ZAR) Climate Awareness Bond for another ZAR 250m (EUR 17 million), bringing the total for the bond up to ZAR 1 billion (EUR 67 million). Lead managers were Citi and Morgan Stanley.
Toyota will close mid-next week on what will be the world's first green bond backed by auto loans - electric vehicle and hybrid car loans to be specific. And what a kickstart for that market, at $1.75 billion.
According to a report in International Financing Review (IFR), the bond will be in multiple tranches, each at a different ratings level: A2 tranche, A3 and A4 (Moody's ratings).
German Index company Solactive last week launched a green bonds index, the first to hit the market. The Index uses the Climate Bonds Initiative's tracking list of green bonds as a base.
To be included in the Index, bonds need to have an amount outstanding of at least US$100 million and a minimum remaining time to maturity of 6 months. Convertible bonds and inflation-linked bonds are excluded. All bonds are weighted according to their market value with a maximum of 5% per bond.
Last week, California's Western Riverside Council of Governments (a consortium of local governments) issued a $103.8 million bond backed by PACE loans (Property Assessed Clean Energy) for work such as weather sealing, insulation upgrades or solar-panel installations.
Interest rate was 4.75%. Kroll gave the bond an AA rating.
