International law firm Simmons & Simmons has advised Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF), a multilateral facility established by the governments of China, Japan, Korea and ASEAN members as well as the Asian Development Bank, on the issuance of a 3-year CNH 1 billion green dim sum bonds listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
The firm advised CGIF as the guarantor in the issuance of CNH1,000,000,000 senior unsecured guaranteed green bonds due 2024 (“green bonds”) by Hanwha Solutions Corporation, one of South Korea’s largest renewable energy service providers and a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate, Hanwha Group.
This is the first green bonds and the first dim sum bonds guaranteed by CGIF and the guarantee obligations are shared by CGIF and the Export-Import Bank of Korea. The “green” certification and ESG components of the issuance were provided by Sustainalytics, the global ESG research and rating provider, and the green bonds have an “AA” rating from S&P. Standard Chartered Bank was the sole lead manager and sole bookrunner for the green bonds.
The Simmons & Simmons legal team was led by Jay Lee (Partner).
Jay Lee, Partner at Simmons & Simmons said, “The Simmons & Simmons team is very proud to be part of this unique transaction as it is unlikely that we will see a similar green dim sum bonds deal in Asia for many years to come. Compared to other Asian green bonds deals which are primarily domestic in nature, this transaction has several landmark features – RMB denominated “international” green bonds offering issued by a South Korean conglomerate group, listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange with an AA rating given by S&P, a third party green bonds certification by Sustainalytics with a guarantee by CGIF, an Asia-based supranational organisation, and the risk sharing of the guarantee by Korea Export-Import Bank, a Korean policy bank.”