RWE has successfully issued its first green bond with a volume of €500 million and a 10 year maturity. Based on a coupon of 0.625 % p.a. and an issue price of 99.711 % the yield-to-maturity amounts to 0.655 % p.a. The issuance met with strong interest on the market and was more than three times oversubscribed.
As stated in the RWE Green Bond Framework, only wind and solar projects are eligible for green bond funding. This is in line with the United Nations’ Sustainability Goal number 7 to increase the share of renewable energies in the worldwide electricity mix. In addition, RWE’s framework is based on the internationally recognised Green Bond principles of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA). Furthermore, a second party opinion has been issued from the internationally renowned sustainability agency Sustainalytics.
The green bond proceeds are to be allocated to eligible RWE renewable energy projects by the end of the year. The company currently has projects with a total installed capacity of 3.7 gigawatts under construction, which are contributing towards RWE’s aim to expand its portfolio of wind power and solar plants to over 13 gigawatts of net capacity by the end of 2022.
RWE’s first green bond expands the company’s portfolio of sustainable financial instruments. These include the linking of the longer-term tranche of the syndicated credit line to ESG criteria, the existing project financing for the Triton Knoll offshore wind farm and tax equity financing for wind farms in the U.S.
Bookrunners for the issuance were BBVA, Citi, Deutsche Bank and Société Générale as well as Intesa Sanpaolo, LBBW and SMBC.