Environmental Finance's Bond Awards 2021

Green bond of the year - supranational, sub-sovereign and agency (SSA): Société du Grand Paris

Vincent GaillardSociété du Grand Paris (SGP) retains its award from last year as it added to its green bond portfolio with a €6 billion ($7.1 billion) dual tranche offering.

The bond has a 10-year tenor, with a 0% coupon, and a 40 year tenor, 0.7% coupon, and has enabled SGP to 'build a complete credit curve (from seven to 50 years)'.

Proceeds from the bond will be used to finance transport, specifically the grand Paris Express, the new metro network for the Greater Paris area, which aims to be completed by 2030. The project aims to add an additional 200km of track primarily servicing the outer metropolitan area of the city. SGP has now raised $16 billion for the new transport network, amounting to almost 50% of its financing.

The size, scale, and length of the bond matched by the impact and importance of the project swayed the Environmental Finance Bond Awards judges. "Terrific on mission, impact, on sustainability and developing capital markets. Great to see the scale of issuance. Sustainable transit is a huge need for addressing climate change and SGP can have a big impact. I love the issuance out to 40 years, matching the asset duration, and supplying investors with a long term view," said one.

"We are extremely proud to receive this award for the second time, which is a testament to our strong long-term commitment to green finance and the recognition of our peers," said Vincent Gaillard, chief financial officer at SGP.

Deal Highlights

Issuer: Société du Grand Paris
Size: €6 billion ($7.1 billion)
Maturity: 25th November 2030 & 15th October 2060. 10 & 40 years
Coupon: 0% & 0.7%
Use of Proceeds: Clean transport – financing the Grand Paris Express
External Review: Sustainalytics and CBI for the framework
Lead managers: Barclays, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Natixis, Nomura, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, NatWest Markets and Société Générale
Credit rating: Moody's Aa2/Prime-1 (Stable); Fitch: AA/F1+ (negative outlook)
Other highlights/notable features: Long dated green bond 40 year maturity adding to SGP's 30 and 50 year offerings. With orders exceeding €18 billion it was the largest orderbook ever achieved by SGP.