RWE Bonds and Credit Rating

Responsibility for Group financing is centralised at RWE AG. As the parent company, RWE AG is responsible for acquiring funds from banks or the financial markets. Subsidiaries only raise debt capital directly in specific cases, for example if it is advantageous economically to make use of local credit and capital markets. RWE AG also acts as a co-ordinator when subsidiaries assume contingent liabilities. This allows us to manage and monitor financial risks centrally. Moreover, it strengthens our position when negotiating with banks, business partners, suppliers and customers. 

Tools for raising debt capital

We cover most of our financing needs with earnings from our operating activities. In addition, we have a wide range of tools to procure debt capital:

Our Debt Issuance Programme (DIP) gives us latitude in raising debt capital for the long term. Our current DIP allows us to issue bonds with a total face value of up to €10 billion.

For short-term refinancing, we have an EU Commercial Paper Programme of €5 billion and a US Commercial Paper Programme of $3bn. 

To secure our liquidity, we also have access to three syndicated credit lines of €10 billion granted to us by a consortium of 33 international banks. We already secured the first, €3 billion credit line, which runs until April 2026, back in April 2019. The second line has a volume of €2 billion and replaces one which expired in April 2022; it is also available until April 2026. In light of volatility in energy prices over the last years and the related rise in liquidity requirements to hedge forward contracts, we secured a third credit line, which increases our financing headroom by another €5 billion. The term is until 2024 but we can extent it at our discretion until 2025. At our request, the conditions of all three of these credit lines are linked to sustainability criteria. Among other things, the conditions depend on the development of the following three indicators: the share of renewables in RWE’s generation portfolio, the CO₂ intensity of our plants and the percentage of our capex that is classified as sustainable in accordance with the EU taxonomy regulation. We have set goals for all three of these criteria. If we do not achieve these targets, we will have to pay higher interest and commitment fees. Half of these additional funds would be passed on to non-profit organisations.

The conditions at which we can raise debt largely depend on rating agencies’ assessment of our creditworthiness. Moody’s and Fitch make such evaluations on request from us. RWE’s long-term creditworthiness is rated Baa2 (Moody’s) and BBB+ (Fitch), both with a stable outlook. These are investment grade ratings. Moody’s and Fitch value RWE’s transformation into a leading renewables company. This business is characterised by attractive and relatively stable earnings.

RWE ended its rating by the agency Standard & Poor’s on the 15th of February 2018.