Bond Awards 2020

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has been voted as the lead manager of the year for corporate social bonds.

HSBC swept to victory in five of the nine lead manager of the year categories, following a year in which the FTSE 100-listed bank saw its underwriting volumes surge.

JP Morgan acted as lead manager on several significant sub-sovereign, supranational and agency issuances in 2019 across the world.

Esohe Denise Odaro, head of investor relations at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has been an integral figure in the development of the green, social and sustainability bond market in recent years.

DE VOLKSBANK secured the award for the green bond of the year by a bank for its inaugural €500 million ($550 million) issue, after judges were impressed by its "innovative carbon profit and loss approach."

DANISH power company Orsted scooped the corporate green bond of the year award with its first entry into the GBP (£) market since 2012. The deal was comprised of three tranches, raising a combined GBP900 million ($1.1 billion).

Since its debut in the green bond market in March 2017, the Province of Quebec has become a regular issuer. Its CAD800 million, five-year SEC-registered transaction in February 2019 was its fourth and largest green deal, taking its cumulative total to CAD2.3 billion.

The Republic of Chile issued a €861 million ($950 million) of 12-year green bonds in June 2019, becoming the first ever sovereign Euro green bond issuer in the Americas.

Since its entry into the green bond market in October 2018, Societe du Grand Paris (SGP) - an infrastructure body wholly owned by the French state - has become one of the major market players, raising almost $8.4 billion from four benchmark issues and five smaller private placements.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) became the first US municipal bond issuer to securitise a portfolio of residential solar and energy efficiency loans with its second annual issuance of its Green Jobs-Green New York programme.

MORhomes secured the social bond of the year award for corporates after finalising a £250 million ($322 million) issue to assist in building social housing in the UK.

The Republic of Ecuador issued the first social bond from a sovereign, raising $400 million.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) issued its first ever dual-tranche social bond, denominated in Norwegian krone and Swedish krona, in April 2019.

The SFIL Group's inaugural social bond in February 2019 was issued under a covered bonds format, by the French public development bank's subsidiary, Caisse Française de Financement Local (CAFFIL).

Grupo Bancolombia issued a 657 billion Colombian pesos ($185 million) sustainability bond, which was bought in its entirety by IDB Invest. It was the first time a private bank in Colombia has issued a sustainability bond.

In August, Canada's Sun Life became the first life insurance company globally to issue a sustainability bond. The CAD750 million 10-year offering attracted strong investor demand despite carrying a lower coupon than the company's other subordinated debt.

In April 2019, the Walloon Region of Belgium issued its inaugural, €1 billion ($1.1 billion) sustainability bond. It attracted more than €3.5 billion of demand from more than 200 investors.

The New South Wales (NSW) Treasury Corporation (TCorp) issued its inaugural sustainability bond - the first sustainability bond from an Australian semi-government issuer.

The New York State Housing Finance Agency issued its inaugural sustainability bond in June 2019, in a deal that it is thought to have made it the first US municipality to follow the Sustainability Bond Guidelines.

CONNECTICUT GREEN BANK'S April 2019, $38.6 million in green asset backed securities was its first rated debt issuance, and the first ever solar asset-backed security (ABS) transaction by a green bank.

THE INAUGURAL Nordic-Baltic Blue Bond from the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) scooped the use of proceeds innovation award for a green bond, with the judges lauding the specialised water management product design which was "unique" to the NIB.

Since the publication of the Green Bond Principles (GBPs) in 2014, market participants have sought further information on how to interpret this guidance.

Deutsche Kreditbank (DKB)'s €500 million ($558 million) 'blue' social Pfandbrief was the first deal of its kind.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched its Social Impact Notes in July 2019, to facilitate retail investors' participation in the sustainability bond market.

ITALIAN energy giant Enel was the clear winner of the award for innovative bond structure for its 'SDG-linked' bonds, although the product provoked considerable controversy among investors.

IN NOVEMBER 2019, Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo issued its first ever sustainability bond, focused on financing the circular economy.

The World Bank's Sovereign ESG Data Portal was launched in October to help investors better conduct their own analysis of sovereign bonds on environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.

The Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) has won Environmental Finance's exchange of the year award for the fourth year in a row.

Cicero has been awarded external reviewer of the year for the fourth consecutive time, and for the second time since it created a specialist subsidiary called Cicero Shades of Green.

Amundi and the European Investment Bank (EIB) launched the Green Credit Continuum (Greco) programme in July 2019 to push the sustainable debt market beyond green bonds and support small-scale green projects as well as financing green small- and medium-sized companies.

Norwegian public sector lender Kommunalbanken Norge (KBN)'s 2018 green bond impact report builds on a strong track record of reporting among Nordic issuers.

Zurich Insurance Group claims its framework to measure the impact of its investments across asset classes is the first of its kind.

The Bloomberg Barclays MSCI Green Bond Index has been voted as best index for the fourth year running.

BlackRock scooped the Investor of the Year award from the judges, following a period of rising activity in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space by the largest investor in the world.BlackRock scooped the Investor of the Year award from the judges, following a period of rising activity in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space by the largest investor in the world.

Linklaters' claim to this title is based on its involvement in about 100 green, social and sustainability bonds in 2019.

BNP Paribas has scooped the inaugural Loan structurer/arranger/coordinator of the year award, after it took a leading role in the rapidly accelerating sustainability-linked loans (SLLs) market.

BNP Paribas has been named lead manager of the year for green bonds corporate, one of two Bond Awards taken home by the banking giant for their work in 2019

Credit Agricole CIB (CACIB) helped bring four new sovereign green bond issuers to the market in 2019.

CaixaBank issued its inaugural social bond in September 2019 worth €1 billion ($1.1 billion) with a maturity of five years and coupon of 0.625%, the largest social bond in unsecured format issued by a Spanish financial institution.

Morgan Stanley claimed this title as a result of serving as lead or joint lead manager on 26 green, social or sustainability (GSS) bonds with a total value of about $4.4 billion last year. This is estimated to be 34% of the par amount and 22% of the individual transactions in the GSS muni market.

The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) has long been one of the biggest investors in green bonds, but in December of 2019 it turned issuer to help it finance the expansion of its headquarters.

For its exceptional work in the sustainable investment sphere over the calendar year 2019, led by respected industry figure Steve Liberatore, global investment manager Nuveen was highly commended at Environmental Finance's 2020 Bond Awards.

California Health Facilities Financing Authority issued the largest ever social bond from a local authority or municipal issuer, raising a total of $500 million in November 2019.

A charity that fights with homelessness, and drug addiction became the first non-profit to issue a social bond in the US municipal.