Four years after a first landmark “green” loan, France once again issued 7 billion bonds intended to finance projects in favor of energy and ecological transition, meeting very strong demand.
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The offers of investors for this new French “green OAT”, due June 25, 2044, have indeed exceeded 34.5 billion euros, said Wednesday Crédit Agricole-CIB, one of the banks piloting the operation.
This allowed France to borrow at an interest rate of only 0.526%, against 1.74% for its inaugural green issue in 2017. And this rate is also lower than that at which it should have repaid a classic loan of same deadline.
"It's a big success, a very successful operation"
for which we received
"nearly 325 orders"
, allowing us to
"match the volume"
2017, commented to AFP Cyril Rousseau, deputy director general of Agence France Trésor (AFT), which manages the debt and treasury of the French state.
Essentially European, institutional and long-term investors accounted for around three quarters of subscriptions.
And among them, half are investors complying with environmental, social or governance (ESG) criteria, detailed AFT.
"We really have all the major European institutions who are represented, and very often for their green funds and for their ESG funds"
, also noted Pierre Blandin, specialist in issues of public and supranational bodies at Crédit Agricole-CIB.
Specific demand
Some funds
"invest exclusively or mainly, or wish to have a significant portion of ESG securities or green securities,"
explains Cyril Rousseau.
There is also the
“civil society pushing in this direction”
of more responsible investments.
These specific needs lead to a strong demand for green debt, and therefore interest rates that are a little lower than those of a traditional debt security.
Those who do buy them may find their way around in the long run, however, as these securities tend to see their returns increase over time in the secondary market, where they subsequently trade.
"While waiting for the arrival of the European Union, which aims to achieve a third of its debt issues in green format, today we are the (sovereign) issuer with the largest volume of green bonds. brought up to the world, ”
says Cyril Rousseau.
France was one of the pioneer countries in this market, where it now weighs nearly 36 billion euros.
It thus exceeds Germany, which issued 11.5 billion euros of green debt for the first time in 2020. The Netherlands complete the podium.
All French “green” fundraising for the year 2021 cannot, however, exceed 15 billion euros, AFT announced in January.
Many banks, including BNP Paribas, Citi, Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC and JP Morgan, have helped place this new loan with investors.