Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises ABN AMRO Bank N.V. on EUR 500 million 'Euro Green Bond' issuance

Clifford Chance has advised ABN AMRO Bank N.V. ("ABN AMRO") on raising EUR 500 million by issuing its inaugural 'Euro Green Bond'. It is for the first time that a Dutch commercial bank issues this type of bond. This product enables investors to (indirectly) invest in mortgages of highly energy-efficient homes, loans for solar panels on existing homes and sustainable commercial property.

The EUR 500 million bond has a maturity of five years and was issued at midswaps plus 45 basis points. ABN AMRO has structured the green bond itself with the help of the Clifford Chance Amsterdam capital markets team. The majority of investors are European institutional investors that favour sustainable investments.

According to the bank, a total of around 50.000 tonnes of carbon emissions may be avoided via this model portfolio. This equals the annual emissions of more than 10.000 cars. The sustainable assets in question are validated by Oekom Research and the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI) based on transparency and sustainability criteria. 'Green Bonds' are currently still a niche product, but the market is growing rapidly. A requirement to qualify as a 'Green Bond' is that the proceeds of the issuance must be specifically used for investments that lead to a better environment. Initially this type of debt was only issued by non-governmental institutions like the World Bank.

The Clifford Chance team that advised ABN AMRO was led by Jurgen van der Meer and furthermore consisted of Hugo van der Molen and Pieter Leefers.