Winning a brace at this year's Environmental Finance Sustainable Debt Awards was the SchneiTec Dynamic Green Project Bond, collecting both the Award for innovation in the green bond structure for the Asia-Pacific region and Green project bond of the year.
The KHR196.6 billion ($49 million) bond finances the first utility-scale solar plant integrated with a battery energy storage system (BESS) in Cambodia. It was also the first project bond and the longest corporate tenure at 15 years.
The bond utilised a split tranche structure comprising two guaranteed by the Asian Development Bank's Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility and one unguaranteed tranche.
It also achieved the highest possible 'dark green' rating from S&P Global with "no weaknesses" reported.
"A dark green bond in a very important frontier market," said one Sustainable Debt Awards judge. "This is a great achievement for Cambodia and having a locally domiciled bond for the insurance sector is significant."