Norwegian Company Launches €1 Billion Green Bonds

• Statkraft's dual-tranche senior unsecured bond offering under EMTN program is successfully placed 
• The €1 billion green bond issue generated interest from more than 200 investors 
• It plans to use an equivalent amount to the next proceeds to finance eligible projects under its Green Finance Framework 

Norway's state-owned energy group Statkraft has successfully issued €1 billion in green bonds that it plans to use to fund eligible green projects under its Green Finance Framework. 

The company explained that an equivalent amount to the net proceeds from the bond issue will be used to finance the projects. 

Statkraft launched the dual-tranche €1 billion ($1.08 billion) senior unsecured bond offering under its Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) program. Both the tranches were oversubscribed with the issue generating interest from over 200 investors. 

The company had Barclays, Nordea, DNB Markets, Danske Bank, UniCredit and Société Générale acting as joint bookrunners on the bond issue. 

The bonds now mature in March 2032 and 2039 and pay a fixed coupon of 3.375% and 3.75% respectively. The company will apply for the bonds to be listed on Euronext Dublin. 

Statkraft's CFO Anna Nord Bjercke said, "We are very pleased with the success of this bond issue. The interest shown by investors with combined books more than 5x covered and the competitive pricing demonstrates the international market's confidence in Statkraft." 

This follows the company's issue of dual-tranche of €1 billion senior unsecured bond offering in December 2023. These will mature in December 2026 and 2031. Both these were also oversubscribed. An equivalent amount to the net proceeds from this issue were also said to be invested in financing eligible projects. 

Statkraft aims to expand its renewable energy portfolio with the addition of 2.5 GW to 3 GW annually from 2025 and 4 GW from 2030. During 2023, it signed a record number of long-term agreements for 64 TWh of clean energy supply with Norwegian industrial companies, along with several power purchase agreements (PPA) in other markets. 

Last year, it also signed an agreement to acquire Spanish renewable energy company Enerfin, adding 1.5 GW of operational and under-construction wind and solar assets to its portfolio (see American Food Producer Turns Offtaker For Solar In Spain).  

Currently, Statkraft is going through a leadership transition as its CEO of 14 years Christian Rynning-Tønnesen is stepping down, to be replaced by Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal from April 2024 (see Norwegian Energy Group Elevates Senior Resource To CEO).