Ascott Residence Trust issues $200 mil sustainability-linked bond
According to ART, the issuance of the sustainability-linked bond has netted the trust a green premium, or “greemium”, which describes the reduced expense of funding from issuing financial obligation that has a favorable ecological influence as compared to traditional bonds. ART has even devoted to a sustainability efficiency aim for of greening 50% of its total portfolio by 2025. To attain this, the residences should attain a regionally, nationally or internationally acknowledged environment-friendly structure requirement or qualification by a recognised third-party.
” Sustainability is origin to every little thing we do at ART. Straightening our financing requires with our sustainability efforts to construct a greener profile demonstrates ART’s emphasize accountable development,” claims Beh Siew Kim, CEO of ART. “Since 31 Dec 2021, 33% of ART’s profile is green-certified and we target to eco-friendly the remainder of our portfolio by 2030.”
Last year, ART secured the first hospitality trust environment-friendly financing in Singapore, which was utilized to finance its initial growth job – lyf one-north, a co-living residence certified with Green Mark GoldPLUS by the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore.
Earnings from the bond issuance are going to be utilized to refinance ART’s existing loanings. DBS Bank is the sole sustainable financing consultant, lead supervisor and also bookrunner for the deal.
In an April 20 announcement, ART says the deal was oversubscribed by 2.2 times on the back of solid demand, leading to the bond concern being upsized from $150 million to $200 million. The final orderbook shut at $335 million with orders from throughout 47 accounts. In terms of investor allotment, 79% of the bond issuance headed to institutional financiers, while personal banking financiers made up 21%.
Ascott Residence Trust (ART) has already released a $200 million sustainability-linked bond, making it the very first Singapore-listed property trust and the very first hospitality trust around the world to issue such a bond.
The bond was issued under ART’s $2 billion Multicurrency Debt Issuance Programme under its newly-established Sustainability-Linked Finance Framework. The five-year bond will develop in April 2027 as well as carry a fixed discount price of 3.63% per year, paid semi-annually behind.