APA-Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) – The issue received strong support from the global investment community, with an order book of more than $3.5 billion, according to the financial institution.
The first social bond issued by the African Development Bank as part of its new sustainable bond framework, launched in September 2023, has been a resounding success. In a press release received by APA on Monday, the pan-African institution claims to have launched and priced a USD 2 billion 3-year global social benchmark due February 25, 2027.
This new 3-year social benchmark is the bank’s first global benchmark of the year, strategically aligned with the robust reopening of primary markets in January 2024. This issue is an important highlight in the midst of a dynamic week in the USD SSA markets, which saw the launch of 8 benchmarks totaling $17.25 billion in two days, the note said.
The issue received strong support from the global investment community, with an order book of over $3.5 billion, and attracted high quality investors, including central banks, official institutions and bank treasuries, which accounted for 78% of the book. Distribution was well diversified by geographic region and investor profile, with 76 orders in hand. The social label attracted interest from ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investors, who represented 38% of the book.
The transaction was officially priced at 3:18 pm London time with a reoffer yield of 4.221%, representing a spread of 10.3 basis points versus 4% for USD on January 27, the tightest spread versus UST in the USD SSA primary market so far this year.
With this transaction, ADB continues its funding strategy of issuing large liquid benchmark transactions and adds another benchmark on the way to the 3-year maturity, the note said. The bank achieved the tightest pricing among multilateral development banks (MDBs) against both swaps and US Treasuries.
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