Deutsche Bank has worked with Shanghai-headquartered NDB to raise the first Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Panda bond in emerging markets.
The SDG Panda has a coupon of 3.22% and raised RMB 5bn (€648m) in China’s onshore bond market.
The NDB offering was structured for both onshore and offshore institutional investors.
The final orderbook was two times oversubscribed with a broad diversification of investors by geography and type.
Deutsche Bank was the only European bank selected by NDB to act as joint lead manager and joint bookrunner for the offering.
Its head of ICG macro sales China, Lillian Tao, commented: “NDB saw high (45%) participation among international investors for their covid-19 Panda in April last year.
“This SDG Panda transaction saw 49% international investor participation and we saw significant indicators of interest during the bookbuild process.”
Important role to play
The bond aims to finance sustainable activities and deliver solutions supporting the 17 SGDs in NDB member countries.
The New Development Bank was established in 2015 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) with the objective of financing infrastructure and sustainable development projects in Brics and other emerging and developing countries.
It SDG Panda supported by NDB’s environmental and social framework and issued with reference to the UNDP Sustainable Development Goals and Impact Standards for bonds and the SDG Finance Taxonomy (China).
Deutsche Bank’s head of ESG for Apac, Kamran Khan, said: “This SDG panda bond by NDB demonstrates that multilateral development banks have an important role to play in setting the standards for capital market instruments supporting sustainability and achievement of SDGs, particularly in emerging markets.
“The capital raised and benchmarks established by this bond will have a very material impact on the standards under which public and private entities raise capital to support the achievement of SDGs in NDB’s member countries.”
