Access Bank Plc. said its five-year Fixed Rate Senior Unsecured Green Bond, the first climate bond to be issued in Africa, valued to the tune of N15 billion had been fully subscribed.
The Group Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, who disclosed this at the bond-signing ceremony in Lagos on Monday, said the Green Bond offer was achieved through Book Building, a systematic process of generating, capturing, and recording investor demand for shares during an initial public offering, IPO, or other securities during their issuance process.
This, according to him is in order to support efficient price discovery.
Wigwe noted that the bond, priced at a coupon of 15.5 per cent, had participation from a wide range of asset managers and pension fund administrators.
He further noted that the issuance of the Green Bond demonstrated the bank’s commitment to sustainable operational practices, being a pioneer operator both in domestic and international capital markets.
According to him, the bank saw the global drive for responsible and sustainable green financing as an opportunity to raise capital for the creation of assets through climate change financing.
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Wigwe maintained that the bank had a strong track record of deploying environmental and social risk management tools as well as working closely with local and international agencies to deliver a greener outcome from investing activities.
“With our pace-setting experience in the mainstreaming of sustainability in our business operations, we are confident that this issue will further help in supporting environmentally friendly investors to meet their investment objectives whilst simultaneously supporting the bank’s customer towards realising growth opportunities in fast-developing low carbon economy,” he stated.
The Group Managing Director disclosed that the new funding would be directed toward financing new loans as well as refinancing existing loans in accordance with the bank’s Green Bond Framework, and support projects directed at flood defense, solar generation facilities, and agriculture.
Green bond is a bond specifically earmarked to be used for climate and environmental projects. It is typically asset-linked and backed by the issuer’s balance sheet, and are also referred to as climate bonds.
