Published by Asia Asset Management – 5th Oct 2018
Societe Generale (SocGen), a Paris-based financial services provider, has became the first foreign lender to be granted approval by the Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission to issue Taiwanese dollar (NT$) denominated green bonds in the country.
SocGen says in a statement on October 2 that the bonds have a total issue size of NT$1.6 billion (US$51.89 million).
They are split into three tranches – 5-year: NT$900 million, 10-year: NT$500 million, and 15-year: NT$200 million, with coupon rates of 0.85%, 1.12% and 1.63%, respectively.
“The proceeds of the issuance will be used to fund renewable energy projects in Taiwan, including the successful project financing of the Formosa 1 Offshore Wind project, Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm,” SocGen says in the statement.
Hikaru Ogata, chief executive officer of SocGen in Asia Pacific, says the issuance of the green bond “demonstrates SocGen’s continued commitment to contributing to the financing of a more sustainable economy”.
Demand for green bonds in Asia has been growing in recent years. In May this year, Japan’s largest shipping company NYK Line sold 10 billion yen ($913 million) of five-year green bond priced at a coupon rate of 0.29% per annum.
In July last year, Tadau Energy, a unit of China-owned Edra Power Holdings, issued a 250 million ringgit ($59.73 million) of green Islamic bond to build a 50-megawatt solar-generated power plant in the east Malaysian state of Sabah.
