Furthermore, Iberdrola assessed that investors "have once again demonstrated confidence in the solidity of the electricity company" with this issuance in the Swiss market.
Iberdrola has successfully closed a green bond issue for 335 million Swiss francs (US$374 million) in two tranches, four and seven years, at interest rates of 1.38% and 1.56%, respectively. , the company reported.
The energy company indicated that these interest rates would be equivalent to an average of 3.5% if it had been in euros, for the amounts of 145 million Swiss francs (US$ 162 million) - over four years - and 190 million francs Swiss (US$ 212 million) - over seven years - and highlighted that the great existing demand "has made it possible to narrow the cost levels below the lower ranges considered at the beginning of the operation."
The group chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán has launched the operation, in its first issue in Swiss francs since 2012 and the first in green format in this market, taking advantage of the recent lowering of interest rates by the Swiss Central Bank on June 21 , which has allowed the levels obtained to improve an equivalent operation in the Euromarket.
Furthermore, Iberdrola assessed that investors "have once again demonstrated confidence in the solidity of the electricity company" with this issuance in the Swiss market.
Thus, the strength of the credit, the fact that it is a non-domestic corporate issuer and the green nature of the operation have allowed for strong demand, which has served to narrow the margin levels initially considered, from 50-55 basis points in the shortest term to the final 47 basis points, and from 65-70 basis points in the long term to the final 62 basis points.
Specifically, the operation will serve to finance green projects that meet the eligibility criteria established by the Iberdrola Framework for Green Financing. The coordinating banks of the issue were UBS and Deutsche Bank.
FIRST WORLDWIDE PRIVATE GROUP TO ISSUE GREEN BONDS
Iberdrola, the first electricity company in Europe by stock market value with a capitalization of about 80,000 million euros (US$ 85,741 million), is the first global private group to issue green bonds, after becoming the first Spanish company in 2014. issue a bond with these characteristics. Currently, it has more than 21,000 million euros (US$ 22,507 million) of live green bonds.
Within the banking market, in 2016, the company also signed the first green loan for an energy company, for an amount of 500 million euros (US$ 535 million).
Likewise, this January, Iberdrola issued 700 million (US$ 750 million) in hybrid bonds, thus maintaining the company's hybrid volume stable at an amount of 8,250 million euros (US$ 8,842 million).
The funds obtained were used to refinance the renewable assets that had been financed with the hybrid bond issued in 2018, which was replaced with that operation.
In addition, at the end of December, it signed its largest credit line in history for 5.3 billion euros (US$ 5.68 billion) with 33 international banking entities.
The cost of this operation was at the most competitive levels for the group, with prices similar to those of 2019 and the operation was oversubscribed by more than 40%.