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Abu Dhabi Announces First Green Bond | |
| Staff Writer |
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) recently announced its first green bond. This bond has been issued by Sweihan PV Power Company (SPPC), currently operates a solar power project Noor Abu Dhabi.
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The listing of $700 million of fixed-rate has now taken the total number of debt instruments listed on ADX to 28. These bonds, which will mature in 2049, now have a 3.625 percent coupon with the deal 1.8 times oversubscribed and a total of $1.26 billion investments.
The listing in Abu Dhabi comes under the exchange's ADX One strategy and is a part of the emirate's plans to establish itself as a "green bond hub".
ADX's rebranded Growth Market will encourage more listings in Abu Dhabi that would be in sync with the UAE vision for the next five decades on sustainable economic growth and will meet the country’s net zero goal by 2050
According to Ahmed Al Rumaithi, undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, "It is a strategic step towards establishing Abu Dhabi as both a sustainable finance and a green bond hub ... We are committed to supporting green bond initiatives and providing a fit regulatory framework in collaboration with all stakeholders in order to ensure green financing and refinancing options are available for Abu Dhabi’s sustainable projects.”
Green financing includes but is not restricted to structured financial instruments that include an array of loans and bonds to encourage the development of projects in sectors such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, pollution prevention, biodiversity conservation, and circular economy initiatives. Globally, the green bond market is estimated to reach $2.36 trillion by 2023, according to the World Economic Forum.
With the right structures and mechanisms for green finance, the GCC is slated to unlock two trillion dollars as economic output which will, in turn, accelerate job creation by 2030. Investors will also help to boost foreign direct investment in sustainable industries.
"With ESG growing in prominence across the region and green bonds being at the forefront of product innovation in this space, we welcome and celebrate this historic milestone of ADX’s first green bond listing.”
"The listing of Sweihan PV Power Company’s green bond reflects ADX’s sustained ability to create a dynamic debt capital market ecosystem," said Saeed Al Dhaheri, managing director and chief executive of ADX.