EnBW to help foster Germany’s energy transition with green bond issue

04/03/2019

Projects in the fields of wind power, photovoltaics and electric mobility to profit from the proceeds

After the Fukushima disaster in 2011, Germany decided to exit nuclear power, a decision that fundamentally changed the country’s business environment. To embrace the new policy, EnBW, a fully integrated leading German utility company, active in power generation, electricity transmission and distribution, as well as sale of electricity to retail customers, decided to play a leading role in the reshaping of the energy system, and thus be at the forefront of Germany’s energy transition.

Last October, EnBW launched a €500 million green bond, which makes them one of the first German companies to have launched a green bond of this size. The step brings together sustainable finance and investment projects, highlighting the fact that sustainability is a core component of the company’s strategy. Given that rapid expansion of renewable energies, the restructuring of the grids and additional energy-related services have all been part of the transformation towards a utility market focused on sustainable energy, an increasing number of institutional investors now also prefer sustainable investments.

Sustainability is an integral part of EnBW’s business model and the green bond issue is an example of funding following strategy. We were very happy to rely on Societe Generale’s expertise and previous experience in sustainable finance on this occasion.

Thomas Kusterer,
CFO/ EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG

Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking acted as Structuring Agent, Gobal Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner on this inaugural Green Bond offering. The transaction is only the third corporate green bond in benchmark size in the German-speaking region. SG CIB was a Structuring Agent on all three of them, thus ensuring a most visible position for the franchise in Germany and Austria in the Green Bond and sustainable finance area.

This transaction follows our roles in supporting the first ever Austrian Green Bond for Verbund in 2014 as well as the first German corporate green bond for innogy in 2017 and further underlines our strong positioning in sustainable finance in the German-speaking region.

Martin Wagenknecht,
Managing Director - Debt Capital Markets/ Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking

The bond issue was met with general approval. ISS-oekom, a rating agency internationally recognised in the sustainability sector, confirmed that it complies with the Green Bond Principles and the bond was certified to the high standards of the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) as well. It generated very high investor interest and was oversubscribed several times. The proceeds from the bond will be allocated to projects in the fields of wind power, photovoltaics and electric mobility.

Based on its pioneering role and expertise, Societe Generale was instrumental in helping EnBW establish the Green Financing Framework and impact metrics, assisting the issuer in obtaining the Second Party Opinion and helping select the sustainable projects to be financed by this bond. The achievement is the result of strong cooperation between several business lines and the client.

Ralph Neher,
Senior Banker/ Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking