Linklaters acted as international legal advisor to the underwriters for Yunnan Provincial Energy Investment Group’s US$230m double ESG bonds due 2025, with an interest rate of 5.3%. This is the first bond issuance in Asia (ex-Japan) which included both green and sustainability-linked features.
In addition to the green use of proceeds, the terms of the bond also included sustainability performance targets related to increasing the renewable energy capacity of the issuer. The issuance marks a further key development in the ESG bond market in Asia.
The transaction was led by capital markets partners Michael Ng and Hanwen Yu.
Linklaters has supported clients on some of the most innovative and high profile ESG transactions, including advising on a host of firsts in the bond market in Asia and globally:
- Europe’s first sustainability-linked bonds by Enel
- New World Development’s sustainability-linked bonds – the world’s first US dollar sustainability-linked bonds by a real estate company
- China Construction Bank’s landmark multi-branch ESG bond issuance – the first sustainability-linked bonds by a PRC issuer and an Asian financial institution
- the world’s first sovereign sustainability sukuk by the Government of Malaysia
- the world’s first sustainability re-linked notes by Bank of China
