The Sharjah government has taken EUR 500 mn, 6.5-year sustainability bonds to market under its Global Medium Term Note Program, Zawya reports. The offer price for the issuance is yet to be decided, HSBC said in a notice to the London Stock Exchange, but a previous Reuters report said the emirate had set initial price guidance at around 220 bps over the mid-swap rate.
The issuance drew some EUR 1.5 bn in orders as of Thursday morning, Zawya quotes IFR as reporting.
The emirate plans to use the proceeds to finance and refinance “eligible expenditures” under its Sovereign Sustainable Financing Framework.
ADVISORS- Sharjah tapped Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC, IMI Intesa Sanpaolo, and JP Morgan as joint global coordinators on the issuance. HSBC acted as the stabilization coordinator and the sole sustainability structuring agent.
This is the second green bond issuance for the emirate this year: Sharjah closed its USD 750 mn 12-year USD-denominated senior unsecured sustainable bond issuance in March of this year, after tightening their price guidance from an initial spread of 235 basis points (bps) over US treasuries to around 195 bps. The issuance drew some USD 4 bn in orders.