Listed lender Kenya Commercial Bank considers raising more than Sh11.4 billion through a green bond to finance sustainable projects, a top official revealed.
This comes on the back of the bank’s accreditation by the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund(GCF), in November 2020, as the first lender in the country to support climate mitigation and adaptation projects through green financing.
“We have been looking at a green bond locally and are still at very formative stages of that conversation. We are currently speaking to advisers just to understand what the market appetite would be, what rate the market would likely expect a green bond and then we take the decision”, KCB Group Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Kimathi said in an interview.
“If we go to the market through this instrument, it will not be anything below US$100 million. That is the bare minimum we would be looking at,” he added.
KCB remained tight-lipped on the projects it has earmarked for financing through the proceeds of the green bond. It is, however, highly likely that the amount would be complementary to funds received from the UN’s GCF for onward lending to institutions involved in the development of green-climate resilient investments.
Green bonds are currently a global craze and are intended to encourage sustainability and to support climate-related or other types of special environmental projects. These bonds specifically finance projects aimed at energy efficiency, pollution prevention, sustainable agriculture, fishery and forestry, the protection of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, clean transportation, clean water, and sustainable water management.
They also finance the cultivation of environmentally friendly technologies and the mitigation of climate change.
Only one corporate, Acorn Holdings, has raised capital through a green bond in Kenya since the programme was launched in 2017. Acorn in October 2019 floated East Africa’s maiden green bond through a Sh4.3 billion issue whose proceeds were earmarked for financing provision of environmentally-friendly, affordable student accommodation for an estimated 5,000 learners in Nairobi.
Kenya’s corporate bond market has witnessed a resurgence of issuances in the recent past, with the latest instrument floated by the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company attracting bids worth Sh8.1 billion for a targeted Sh1.4 billion capital raise.
Other corporates that have issued bonds recently include the East African Breweries Ltd(EABL), Family Bank, and Centum Real Estate. The Capital Markets Authority issued a policy guidance note on the issuance of green bonds in January 2019.
EABL’s Sh11 billion bond was oversubscribed by more than three times, signalling renewed investor confidence in the previously troubled local bond market. Investors bid a total of Sh37.9 billion in the issuing round, EABL said, representing an oversubscription of 275 per cent.
Family Bank bond raised Sh4.42 billion, marking a subscription of 147.3 per cent, against a Sh3 billion target with a greenshoe option — an over-allotment option — of Sh1 billion in its first tranche of corporate bond offer via public placement.
Centum Real Estate Company listed its Sh3 billion project bond on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, allowing investors to trade the security before it matures in 2023.
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