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AfDB's ‘Fight COVID-19’ social bond listed on London Stock Exchange

Akinwumi Adesina is the president of the African Development Bank. (Image Source: Eric Roset/Flickr)

The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) ‘Fight COVID-19’ social bond was listed on London Stock Exchange on 3 April 2020

The bond is available through its Sustainable Bond Market.

The over-subscribed transaction was launched to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 on Africa’s economies and livelihoods. The bond attracted US$4.6bn of interest in the book and raised US$3bn. The three-year maturity bond garnered interest from central banks and official institutions, bank treasuries and asset managers including environment, social and governance (ESG) investors.

Several ESG investors including Affirmative Investment Management (UK), Breckinridge, Columbia Threadneedle (USA), the Government Pension Investment Fund, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, Pension Boards – United Church of Christ, PineBridge Investments, Praxis Impact Bond Fund, TIAA/Nuveen and the United Nations Development Programme, supported this transaction.

“The international community must work together to successfully tackle the coronavirus pandemic. The UK, along with AfDB and London Stock Exchange Group is supporting the most vulnerable countries to invest in their own health systems and avoid economic hardship,” International Development secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said.

“While we invest in areas like vaccine research to help end the pandemic sooner, this private investment through the AfDB, and our support for emergency lending through the IMF, will help limit its impact on the global economy,” Trevelyan added.

Eligible social or sustainability bonds with use of proceeds aligned to mitigating the impact of COVID-19 will be admitted on the exchange with admission fees waived for an initial period of three-months, London Stock Exchange has announced.

Martin Scheck, CEO of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), said, “We believe social and sustainability bonds can provide an immediately actionable channel for the market to finance projects that directly contribute to alleviating the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.”

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