Ørsted's inaugural green bonds, both issued on the same day in November, demonstrated the company's aim of becoming a green provider in the energy sector.

The Danish firm has reinvented itself as a leader in renewable energy, having sold its oil & gas exploration and production business in May 2017, and renamed itself from Dong Energy in November 2017.

Ørsted plans to use the green bond proceeds to help install up to 12GW of offshore wind by 2025, and replace coal power generation with sustainable biomass by 2023. It aims to reduce the emissions of its power and heat generation by 95% by 2023.

In November, it raised €750 million through a senior green bond and €500 million through a green hybrid issue, claiming it to be the first green hybrid in the Nordic region. Its hybrid issue was particularly well received by investors, achieving an orderbook almost
five times oversubscribed at its peak.

Corporate hybrids are bonds that have some equity-like features – they pay a coupon but often have no definite maturity date, and can defer or cancel coupons without triggering a default.

It was conducted with an intraday execution strategy, allowing Ørsted to capitalise on a favourable market-open, while avoiding any overnight market risk which a prolonged market period may have brought.

SEB was green structural advisor for both the green hybrid capital securities and green senior bonds.

On the green, senior bond transaction, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Rabobank and SEB were joint bookrunners.

Deutsche Bank was structuring advisor and joint bookrunner on the green hybrid, alongside Barclays, BNP Paribas and Nordea as joint bookrunners.

The green bond framework was given a dark green shade by Cicero, which noted the company's shift towards renewable energy.

One of the panel of investor judges said Ørsted has become "a very green company", and also noted that the pricing was "fair for investors".