NEWS
First public sustainability linked bond priced in South-east Asia
Singapore-headquartered urban, infrastructure and services consultancy firm Surbana Jurong has priced a $S250 million 10-year Sustainability-Linked Bond, the first public transaction of its kind in Southeast Asia and the local Singapore dollar bond market. ANZ was Joint Bookrunner and Sole Sustainability Coordinator.
A sustainability-linked bond commits an issuer to key environmental, social and governance targets and attaches a premium payment mechanism if the targets are not met.
Stella Saris Chow, Head of Sustainable Finance – International at ANZ said the transaction signalled a new emerging trend in Asia.
“We expect Sustainability Linked Bonds to grow in the region as more companies set public targets to achieve net-zero emissions and look to link their cost of capital to their sustainability ambitions,” she said.
Surbana Jurong has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent from 2022 to 2029 and achieve net zero carbon emissions status in its Surbana Jurong Campus by 2030.
The company will pay investors a premium payment of 0.75 per cent of the redemption amount at maturity if these goals are not met. The bond is issued in accordance with its newly established Sustainable Finance Framework, guided by the Sustainability Linked Bond Principles (2020) developed by the International Capital Markets Association.
ANZ has led two out of the three sustainability-linked bonds in Asia to date including the region’s first ever with agriculture and commodity firm Olam’s JPY7 billion private offering last December.
Strong demand
Investor response to the bond was overwhelming. The order book was 6.8x oversubscribed resulting in an order book hitting $S1.7 billion, the largest in the Singapore dollar bond market in the last six months.
“The bond attracted high quality investors from Singapore, as well Asia and Europe, substantially expanding Surbana Jurong’s investor base,” Alfonso Maputol, Head of South & Southeast Asia Debt Capital Markets said.
“The strong response underscored investor appetite for high-quality and well-structured offerings.”
Wholly-owned by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, Surbana Jurong is one of largest Asia-based urban, industrial and infrastructure global consulting firms with over 16,000 employees.
Sharon Klyne is Associate Director, Communications at ANZ Institutional
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