Ahren Lester

Articles by Ahren Lester

  • Rakbank raises $600m from 'milestone' social bond debut

    22 July 2024

    United Arab Emirates (UAE) lender Rakbank has raised $600 million from its debut social bond, which is the first public social bond issued in the Middle East.

  • Japanese transition bonds likely to 'move closer to green'

    22 July 2024

    The use of proceeds for the ground-breaking Japanese sovereign transition bond programme is likely to become more conventionally 'green' rather than move more into the more contested 'transition' projects, according to the Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCRA).

  • CA-CIB issues debut 'Sustainability-linked Loan Bond'

    19 July 2024

    French lender Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank (CA-CIB) has launched a JPY3 billion ($19 million) bond focused on financing a portfolio of sustainability-linked loans (SLLs) following a detailed set of 'best-in-class' practices.

  • Masdar raises $1bn from second green bond

    19 July 2024

    United Arab Emirates (UAE) renewable energy firm Masdar has raised $1 billion from its second green bond, a year after the state-owned firm made its green bond debut.

  • Sustainable bond 'maturity wall' marks major milestone

    19 July 2024

    Record maturing sustainable bond volumes could slow net issuance, but represents a "significant" next step for a market that is coming of age. Ahren Lester reports

  • CBI certification 'very difficult' for Japanese transition bonds

    18 July 2024

    Japan has confirmed it is not looking to certify its upcoming transition bonds with the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) due to challenges posed by its diverse framework, including around funding innovative start-ups.

  • Investors have 'strong preference' for Capex over Opex in sustainable bonds

    17 July 2024

    Fixed income investors still have a "strong preference" for sustainable bonds focused on capital expenditure (Capex) rather than operational expenditure (Opex), according to a survey by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA).

  • Offset-heavy Eni SLB target 'one to watch' for 2024, says AFII

    16 July 2024

    The surprisingly high use of carbon offsets by Italian oil major Eni in its progress towards its carbon emissions target has created an interesting litmus test for issuer and investor behaviours around sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs),...

  • Environmental Finance publishes second Sustainable Loans Insight

    15 July 2024

    Environmental Finance has published its Sustainable Loans Insight (SLI) 2024 report, the second edition of its free-to-read sustainable lending analysis and discussion report.

  • Climate change adaptation has 'picked up' in sustainable bond market

    15 July 2024

    The identification of 'climate change adaptation' use-of-proceeds in sustainable bonds has "picked up" over the last couple of years, according to Environmental Finance Data (EF Data).