5 May 2016

Biggest beasts of green bond market are crowned

Some of the biggest beasts in the green bond market were honoured today, in the final instalment of the inaugural Green Bond Awards.

The winners of the following awards, which cover 2015, were announced today:

  • Biggest underwriter: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which topped the underwriters league table for 2015.
  • Biggest issuer (SSA): European Investment Bank, which continued to be a mainstay of the green bond market in 2015, when it issued some €3.96 billion ($4.50 billion) of notes.
  • Biggest issuer (Bank): ING Bank, which issued some $1.38 billion of green notes in 2015.
  • Biggest issuer (Corporate): There were three joint winners: EDF, Toyota, TerraForm Power, which each issued green bonds with a value of $1.25 billion.
  • Biggest issuer (Municipality): Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority's $944 million bond made it the largest issuer in this sector during the year.

The data used to determine the issuer awards was taken from Environmental Finance's green bond database, which is expected to be officially launched in coming weeks.

The announcement of the winners builds on previous announcements over the last two days that have hailed winners in numerous other categories.

Green Bonds Awards 2016
CategoryWinner
Bond of the Year - corporate TenneT
Bond of the Year - SSA Nacional Financiera
Bond of the Year - municipal Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority
Bond of the Year - bank ING Bank
Project bond of the Year Wind MW (Meerwind)
Asset-based bond of the Year Berlin Hyp
Special Award for Innovation (Structure) Yes Bank / IFC 'back-to-back' transaction
Special Award for Innovation (Use of Proceeds) Schneider Electric
Initiative of the Year The Harmonised Framework for Impact Reporting
Personality of the Year Sean Kidney, Climate Bonds Initiative
Biggest Issuer (SSA) European Investment Bank
Biggest Issuer (Corporate) EDF, Toyota, TerraForm Power
Biggest Issuer (Bank) ING Bank
Biggest Issuer (Municipality) Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority
Biggest Underwriter Bank of America Merrill Lynch