SOCIETE GENERALE LEADS EUROPE'S DEBUT GREEN CONVERTIBLE ISSUANCE

摘要

WITH ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE (ESG) assets growing ever more popular, Europe's first green convertible bond was positively devoured by investors. The issuer was French renewable energy generator Neoen, with Societe Generale as a global coordinator and green structuring bank. Over the past decade, Societe Generale has had a leading position in French equity capital markets (ECM) including, notably, equity-linked products. In 2014, for example, the bank was joint bookrunner on the first non-dilutive convertible bond, a €500m ($589m) transaction for Fresenius, a French healthcare company. In the same year, it was global coordinator and sole bookrunner for the first senior hybrid convertible bond. This €l60m issue of unsecured bonds for Assystem, a French engineering company, secured 100% equity treatment under International Financial Reporting Standards.