Last Thursday (September 02), the Hong Kong branch of the China Development Bank (CDBHK) successfully issued a US$ 500 million green bond on the RegS market.
The green bond marked the first of its kind for the bank and constituted the first international green bond issuance by a Chinese policy bank in 2021.
The bond, which was oversubscribed by 8.6 times, has a tenor of 3 years, an issuance yield of 0.64% and is priced at 23 bps over US Treasuries.
A spokesperson for China Development Bank told FinanceAsia that nearly two thirds of the investor base came from Asia Pacific, with strong participation from Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. The remainder was drawn from EMEA.
Investor split by type comprised; banks (63%), central banks/sovereigns (28%) and fund managers/private banks (9%). A release shared with FA detailed that a portion of these were ‘dedicated green investors’.
While the spokesperson for the bank did not detail exactly which projects the proceeds would be put towards, the funds raised will finance eligible green projects in the renewable energy, clean transportation and pollution prevention sectors.
The contact confirmed that the bank plans to continue to play a role in the green financial market, and it has aims to expand the social effects of green finance, as well as to develop Hong Kong as green financial hub in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and a leading green financial centre in Asia.
The joint lead managers on this transaction were Agricultural Bank of China, ANZ, Bank of China Limited, BNP Paribas, China Construction Bank, China Everbright Bank, CLSA Limited, CMB Wing Lung Bank Limited, Crédit Agricole CIB, DBS Bank, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Mizuho Securities, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Standard Chartered Bank.
