HONG KONG: The New Development Bank (NAB), an infrastructure-focused lender established by the BRICS emerging nations last year, has completed the sale of its first worldwide bond in China's interbank bond market.
It was also the first yuan-denominated green bond sold in mainland China by a multinational financial institution.
The five-year, 3 billion yuan ($447.87 million) bond was priced at 3.07 percent on Tuesday, with the total order book amounting to around 9 billion yuan.
"Demand for the bond was quite strong as investors are interested in this new asset class. Also, it is the first bond from this issuer," said the a debt capital market banker at a European bank.
Bank of China is the lead underwriter. Other underwriters include China Development Bank, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, HSBC and Standard Chartered.
China's Xinhua News Agency quoted NDB vice president and chief financial officer Leslie Maasdorp as saying that the bank planned to issue another 10 billion yuan in green bonds in China in the next six months.
The bank also planned to sell bonds in Russia and India to fund green projects there, Maasdorp said.
Proceeds from the bonds are used to fund eligible projects in areas such as renewable energy, pollution prevention and sustainable water management.
Green bond issuance from China has been rising quickly in the past year. Bank of China , for example, sold the world's biggest green bond earlier this month.
The three-part deal in US dollars, euros and yuan was comprised of 2-year, 3-year and 5-year bonds that raised $3.03 billion after drawing orders of about $7.8 billion across the tranches.
China needs at least 2 trillion yuan ($308.8 billion) of green investment annually over the next five years to promote environment protection and reduce the effects of pollution from its rapid industrial growth over the past three decades.
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