This Tuesday, CaixaBank placed a social bond of 1.250 million euros over 8 years, according to the Bloomberg agency. The show received requests of up to 3 billiona request that allowed the spread paid by the company to be reduced: it went from 165 basis points on intermediate exchange (the reference interest rate) initially proposed, up to 130 points.
This bond, maturing in September 2032 (although it has a window in September 2031), will finance projects included in CaixaBank’s sustainable financing framework. So-called social bonds are intended to finance social projects, linked for example to health, education or employment. BofA, Commerzbank, HSBC, UniCredit and Nomura, in addition to CaixaBank itself, participated in the operation. This Tuesday’s issue is being carried out at the same time as another placement by Caixa, of senior preferred debt, for an additional amount of 750 million, for which demand reached 1,200.
This entity had previously placed a social debt; in May 2023, for example, it issued 1 billion euros in this format, intended to finance loans to families, the self-employed and SMEs in Spain and to facilitate access to education and health for vulnerable populations.
CaixaBank was In 2023, the third Spanish company to issue the most sustainable debtas reflected in the annual report of the Spanish Sustainable Finance Observatory (Ofiso). The bank raised 1 billion euros, which places it behind Telefónica (with 2.6 billion) and Iberdrola (with 1.850), and related with Acciona Energía in this figure.
Social bonds are not so common among responsible debt issues in Spain. According to Ofiso data, in the first half of 2024 The Spanish sustainable debt market “surprisingly grew by 36%” compared to the same period last year, while the global market fell by 15%. “The total volume issued reached 17,001 million euros, but of these only 500 million (about 3%) were social. Green bonds accounted for 76% of the total amount issued (they reached 12.906 million), and sustainable ones just over 21% (nearly 3.600 million).
Regarding emissions in 2024, Ofiso highlights that “sustainable mobility and energy efficiency exceed renewable projects in the use of funds” and that Telefónica and ADIF, the two largest emitters in the first half of 2024, have exceeded 2,000 million euros; They also highlight that In the first half of the year, CaixaBank carried out its second sustainable public issue outside the euro marketfor 300 million Swiss francs (in euros, around 320 million).
