Erste Group has issued EUR 500 mln bonds with a seven-year maturity to finance "green" real estate projects in Austria and Romania.

The issue was oversubscribed, and the bonds were issued at a spread of 35bp above the mid-swap. The bonds have a fixed coupon of 0.125%.

With the placement of its very first sustainability bond on the capital market, Erste Group announces that it has reached another milestone in its longstanding activities in the ESG area.

"In the future, economic success will only be based on social and ecological responsibility. We see it as our social responsibility to contribute to sustainable change in our region. We are doing this with our first sustainability bond by financing green and social projects," says Bernd Spalt, CEO of Erste Group.

Crédit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank, Erste Group, ING (Sole Sustainability Structuring Advisor), and LBBW acted as bookrunners for this transaction.

The proceeds from the issue will be used to fund projects that have been defined as qualified under Erste Group's Sustainable Finance Framework (SFF). This currently includes commercial real estate projects in Romania that have been classified as "green" and subsidized housing projects in Austria that are certified according to both ecological and social criteria.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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