Commerzbank: Second own Green Bond finds extensive interest from investors

Issuance 8 times subscribed
Bond volume of €500 million
Inga Johal: “We were able to issue the second Commerzbank Green Bond providing our investors with an opportunity to participate in the sustainable transformation of the economy”

Commerzbank AG has today very successfully issued another Green Bond with an issuance volume of €500 million. It is the Bank’s second own Green Bond after the first issuance in October 2018. The Bank will use the proceeds to refinance renewable energy projects.

“Sustainability is very important for Commerzbank. In recent years, we have significantly expanded our financing for renewable energy projects. This means that we were now able to issue the second Commerzbank Green Bond providing our investors with an opportunity to participate in the sustainable transformation of the economy,” said Inga Johal, Divisional Board Member Group Treasury at Commerzbank. "We are also responding to the continuing increase in demand for sustainable asset classes. For us as an issuer, it is particularly important to widen the Bank’s investor base by issuing green bonds. The great success of our issuance shows that Green Bonds are no longer a niche topic.”

The non-preferred senior Bond attracted extraordinary keen investor interest. With a volume of more than €4 billion, the final order book at re-offer was 8 times subscribed. The Bond has a term of 5.5 years with a call date in March 2025 and an annual coupon of 0.75 %. Joint lead managers for the transaction were Commerzbank, Danske Bank, ING, Natixis und Santander.

Commerzbank obtained its second party opinion from the renowned sustainability rating agency Sustainanalytics. It confirms that the Bond complies with the latest Green Bond Principles This market standard provides investors with a high degree of transparency with regards to how the funds are actually used. Commerzbank has earmarked the proceeds from the Bond for loans for onshore and offshore wind projects and solar projects in Germany, other European countries, and North America. The projects financed by the Green Bond aim to help avoid CO2 emissions of around 850.000 tons per year.

Commerzbank is an established player in the market for sustainable and green bonds. For years, the Bank has supported its clients to prepare sustainable bonds and place them in the international capital market. "We have strong expertise in this relatively young market. In the current year, we have already lead-managed 20 green and social bond issues with an aggregate volume of more than 20 billion euros," said Marie-Claire Ouziel, Global Head of Bonds.

The Bank has been a signatory of the Green Bond Principles since 2014. Commerzbank has also been a partner of the Climate Bonds Initiative since January 2020. The non-profit international initiative aims to contribute to a CO2-efficient and climate-resistant economy with the global bond market.

About Commerzbank

Commerzbank is a leading international commercial bank with branches and offices in nearly 50 countries. The Bank’s two business segments – Private and Small-Business Customers and Corporate Clients – offer a comprehensive portfolio of financial services precisely tailored to their customers’ needs. Commerzbank transacts approximately 30% of Germany’s foreign trade and is the market leader in German corporate banking. The Bank offers its sector expertise to its corporate clients in Germany and abroad and is a leading provider of capital market products. Its subsidiaries, Comdirect in Germany and mBank in Poland, are two innovative online banks. With approximately 800 branches going forward, Commerzbank has one of the densest branch networks in Germany. The Bank serves more than 11.5 million private and small-business customers nationwide and over 70,000 corporate clients, multinationals, financial service providers, and institutional clients worldwide. Its Polish subsidiary mBank S.A. has around 5.7 million private and corporate customers, predominantly in Poland, but also in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 2019, Commerzbank generated gross revenues of €8.6 billion with approximately 48,500 employees.

Disclaimer

This announcement does not contain or constitute an offer of, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for securities. This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. In this release, these statements concern inter alia the expected future business of Commerzbank, efficiency gains and expected synergies, expected growth prospects and other opportunities for an increase in value of Commerzbank as well as expected future financial results, restructuring costs and other financial developments and information. These forward-looking statements are based on the management’s current plans, expectations, estimates and projections. They are subject to a number of assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and developments to differ materially from any future results and developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include the conditions in the financial markets in Germany, in Europe, in the USA and other regions from which Commerzbank derives a substantial portion of its revenues and in which Commerzbank holds a substantial portion of its assets, the development of asset prices and market volatility, especially due to the ongoing European debt crisis, potential defaults of borrowers or trading counterparties, the implementation of its strategic initiatives to improve its business model, the reliability of its risk management policies, procedures and methods, risks arising as a result of regulatory change and other risks. Forward-looking statements therefore speak only as of the date they are made. Commerzbank has no obligation to update or release any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.