Hong Kong sold the equivalent of $5.8 billion of bonds in its ever largest green deal.
The bonds were denominated in three currencies with the $3 billion of dollar bonds sold across four tenors – €1.25 billion two-tranche note and a 10 billion offshore yuan ($1.5 billion) portion.
In Europe, Ireland’s National Treasury Management Agency has reportedly hired BNP Paribas, Bank of America Securities, Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland, Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank and Nomura to manage the sale of its 20-year green bonds.
The proceeds will finance eligible projects, such as sustainable water and waste management, as well as clean transportation and renewable energy deals as part of the government’s plans to halve the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Market participants said that investors sent in more than $25 billion of bids for the dollar notes.
This allowed the issuer to trim pricing on the bond, while it has also seen a strong reception to its new green notes in the other currencies.
Final yields of 3% and 3.3% respectively were set on the 2- and 5-year offshore yuan bonds, according to market participants. That’s as much as 50 basis points below initial guidance.
Hong Kong sold some $3 billion of dollar- and euro-denominated green bonds in November 2021, and days later issued its first such note in yuan
The government also raised HK$20 billion ($2.56 billion) in May 2022 from its first green bond for retail investors, part of the city’s efforts to become a sustainable-finance hub.
The beginning of the year is historically a busy time for new bond sales but 2023 is off to a strong start as issuers globally look to taking advantage of falling bond yields the past couple months.
For Asian issuers, the dollar’s late-2022 pullback has also proved opportune to sell bonds denominated in that currency.
