October 10, The Republic of Ireland, acting through the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), went live with their inaugural 12-year green bond transaction with Danske Bank involved as joint lead manager, alongside Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citibank, HSBC, and JP Morgan.
"We are excited and proud to be lead on this transaction and help support Ireland in their green transition together with our industry peers. We’re committed to the market for sustainable financing and are delighted to help raise funding that support the sustainable agenda,” says Jakob Groot, Head of Danske Bank C&I.
Supporting Ireland’s green transition
The transaction is the first green bond from Ireland and follows a 22-year green bond from France launched in 2017 and a 15-year green bond from Belgium launched earlier in 2018.
The issuance of the Irish Sovereign Green Bond (ISGB) is part of Ireland’s National Development Plan for 2018-2027 that sets out €23 billion of spending on green projects.
Ireland is committed to the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by 2050. Green project categories eligible for the proceeds of the green bond include sustainable water and waste management, clean transportation, and energy efficiency among other things.
"We are excited and proud to be lead on this transaction and help support Ireland in their green transition together with our industry peers. We’re committed to the market for sustainable financing and are delighted to help raise funding that support the sustainable agenda,” says Jakob Groot, Head of Danske Bank C&I.
Supporting Ireland’s green transition
The transaction is the first green bond from Ireland and follows a 22-year green bond from France launched in 2017 and a 15-year green bond from Belgium launched earlier in 2018.
The issuance of the Irish Sovereign Green Bond (ISGB) is part of Ireland’s National Development Plan for 2018-2027 that sets out €23 billion of spending on green projects.
Ireland is committed to the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by 2050. Green project categories eligible for the proceeds of the green bond include sustainable water and waste management, clean transportation, and energy efficiency among other things.
Fact Box
- Ireland has launched a long 12-year green bond. This is the first green bond from Ireland and follows a 22-year green bond from France launched in 2017 and a 15-year green bond from Belgium launched earlier in 2018.
- All three bonds priced at a small new issue premium (NIP).
- The NTMA sold EUR 3bn, on the back of a solid order book of 11.3bn. Close to 170 accounts were in the book.
- The bond was priced 12bp above mid-swap (74.5bp above DBR 5.5% January 2031).
- The demand from Danske Bank’s Nordic client base was strong and amounted to 12% or the total allocation. This is higher than what was seen in both the France and Belgium transactions.
- Danske Bank still has Ireland as one of our top trades for 2018 given the strong fundamentals, positive rating outlook and ECB QE buying. However, Brexit has limited the performance this year, and Irish government bonds still trade at a high spread relative to EU peers such as Belgium and France.
