Lendlease’s oversubscribed debut green bond has raised $500 million to support the delivery of its $113 billion development pipeline – and follows the Group’s recent commitment to become a 1.5ºC aligned company.
The transaction is the largest green bond issued by an Australian non-financial corporate. The seven-year fixed rate bond pays a coupon of 3.40%.
The proceeds of the bond will be focused on green buildings and earmarked to eligible projects in Lendlease’s global portfolio of 22 major urbanisation projects which includes Sydney’s Barangaroo, the UK’s International Quarter London, Singapore’s Paya Lebar Quarter and Chicago’s Southbank.
These buildings will drive a range of market leading initiatives from the lowering of carbon emissions, to reducing the environmental impact of materials and delivering health and wellbeing benefits.
This bond issue follows Lendlease’s recent announcement of two new sustainability targets which reflect the Group’s commitment to tackle the climate crisis and create measured social value:
The environmental target sets a global benchmark for the real estate industry by becoming a 1.5ºC aligned company and committing to ‘Net Zero Carbon’ for scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2025, and ‘Absolute Zero Carbon’ across all operations, including the supply chain, by 2040.
The social target signposts Lendlease’s aspiration for delivering social benefit by committing to the creation of A$250 million of measured social value by 2025.
Quotes attributable to Tarun Gupta, Group Chief Financial Officer:
“Sustainability is a key strategic priority for Lendlease. It is core to our belief that great places deliver positive environmental and social outcomes and are a differentiator and driver of value creation.
“The significant demand for this bond is incredibly exciting as it clearly demonstrates the strong interest the investment community has in supporting sustainably driven projects.
“It marks another sustainability benchmark for Lendlease which also includes Barangaroo being named Australia’s first carbon neutral precinct, and APPF Commercial the world’s most sustainable fund.”
The bond has been developed under a Sustainable Finance Framework aligned with the ICMA Green Bond Principles 2018, the Social Bond Principles 2020 and the Sustainability Bond Guidelines 2018.
The success of the bond paves the way for future issuance under the new Sustainable Finance Framework which has been established to facilitate future green, sustainable and social financing initiatives across Lendlease’s global portfolio.
ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, HSBC, NAB and SMBC Nikko were mandated as Joint Lead Managers of the transaction. ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and HSBC were mandated as Green Bond Advisors.
Related Articles
