Berlin Hyp issues its 5th green bond

Berlin Hyp issued its third green senior unsecured bond this week, the bank's fifth green bond in a benchmark format. The ten-year bond with a volume of €500 million has a coupon of 1.50% and is rated A1 and A+ by Moody's and Fitch. The order books were opened by a consortium of Commerzbank, Credit Agricole, J.P. Morgan, LBBW and Natixis. The syndicate banks quickly collected 66 orders worth well over €500 million and closed the books at 12:15. The re-offer spread was set at mid-swap +60 basis points. Savings banks too 55 percent of the bond, followed by asset managers and insurance companies (22% and 15% respectively). All but 12 percent of the bond went to domestic investors. Berlin Hyp uses the proceeds from the issue to refinance loans for green buildings. Green building are judged primarily on their energy efficiency. Berlin Hyp’s aim is for 20% of its loan portfolio to be made up by green building financing by 2020. Its outstanding green bond volume now stands at €2.5bn.