Kayode Tokede
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated has announced the listing of its $450 million Sustainable Agriculture & Natural Capital Bond with a Market Open Ceremony at the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
The transaction is the world’s first ICMA-designated Nature Bond from a commercial bank – and globally the first use-of-proceeds green bond to carry ICMA’s Nature Bond secondary designation.
The bond is designed to support eligible lending across three categories – Sustainable Primary Production, Sustainable Agri-Processing, and Water Supply and Sanitation – in 24 markets within Ecobank’s operating footprint, with lending concentrated in nature-and biodiversity-priority markets.
It also reflects Ecobank’s wider role in mobilising African and international capital for sectors central to Africa’s long-term resilience, including food systems, natural capital, supply chains and water systems.
The transaction attracted strong investor demand, with a final orderbook exceeding $1.36 billion, representing 3.9 times oversubscription on the original target size of $350 million.
The strength of demand allowed Ecobank to increase the transaction size by $100 million to $450 million and tighten pricing by 50 basis points from initial guidance, representing a greenium of 50 basis points.
Moody’s assigned the transaction its highest Sustainability Quality Score, SQS1 (Excellent).
The bond drew a diversified international orderbook.
Final allocations were distributed approximately 55per cent to the UK and Europe, 38per cent to Africa, three per cent to the Middle East, two per cent to the US and two per cent to Asia, with participation from development finance institutions and dedicated sustainability-focused funds.