Spanien udbyder i denne uge grønne obligationer for første gang. Der udbydes obligationer for 5 milliarder euro, og renten ventes at ligge 3 basispunkter under ikke-grønne spanske obligationer. Der har hidtil været en enorm efterspørgsel efter grønne obligationer i Europa, hvor Italien, Frankrig og Tyskland er gået foran. Da Italien i marts udbød 8,5 milliarder euro, var efterspørgselen på 80 milliarder euro. De grønne obligationer har alle en lang løbetid. EU ventes senere i år at udbyde sine egne gønne obligationer.
Spain joins the green bond party
The success of long-dated green bonds
The Kingdom of Spain, using its full name, announced the launch of a 20-year green bond this week.
The deal comes hot on the heels of Italy launching its first green bond in March this year (with a 24-year maturity), while France added a second green bond to its curve a couple of weeks later (with a 23-year maturity), and Germany brought its third green bond selling in May with a 30-year maturity.
Sovereign jumbo deals have dominated green bond markets so far this year
Long-dated maturities are no doubt a reflection of better investor demand for the sector
It should be clear by now that sovereign borrowers have a strong preference to sell green bonds with long maturities (the one exception is Germany launching a new 10Y green bond on Wednesday). This is no coincidence.
In addition to being a better match for long-term uses of proceeds by the borrowers, long-dated maturities are no doubt a reflection of better investor demand for the sector. In short, we have no concern about maturity concentration here.
The deal will also pave the way for other would-be first-time green bond issuers. Indeed, the United Kingdom is also preparing its inaugural green bond sale later this month, and we expect the EU to launch its first green issue this year too.
One more ‘greenium’ data point
We have written a comprehensive assessment of how green bonds trade relative to their non-green peers earlier this year, and the Spanish deal will add another data point to our analysis.
Judging from its two closest peers, Italy and France, we reckon the new Spanish green bond should trade with a yield roughly 3 basis points below what a non-green Spanish bond would trade. This is based on the median greenium of 3.5bp on the French curve and of 4.5bp on the Italian curve.
Green bond yield relative to their non-green curves has dropped this year
The deal’s €5bn size is no surprise in light of Spain’s lower funding requirements, but it will ensure that demand far outweighs supply. For comparison, Italy’s green bond launch back in March drew demand of €80bn for a deal size of €8.5bn.
