Europe’s first digital green bond on the launchpad

Russian e-commerce firm Ozon will pay US$536m in cash to redeem US$750m of convertible bonds after more than a year of uncertainty following the company's suspension from trading in February 2022. A separate process will cover a rouble payment to Russian investors. The bonds carry a coupon of 1.875% and were due to mature in 2026. In March 2022 Ozon was forced to begin talks with CB holders after a lengthy suspension from trading in its American depository receipts in the wake of the Ukraine invasion was deemed a “de-listing event” under bond...

The long-standing and, some would say, unexamined assumption that nuclear power should never feature in sovereign green frameworks and bonds must surely be on the way out. With the emissions-free energy source ensconced in the EU taxonomy of sustainable activities and set to be included in the UK and Canadian versions too, its long stay on the naughty step of exclusions is becoming ever harder to justify. Traditional exclusions such as tobacco and alcohol are moral judgements that do nothing for net-zero. But few credible net-zero scenarios...

Chester B1 Issuer PLC, a UK RMBS backed by seasoned owner-occupied mortgages first originated by Northern Rock, has been refinanced via a £952m deal called Curzon Mortgages PLC. Barclays and Citigroup, the co-arrangers, joint lead managers and joint bookrunners retained the A1 and A2 classes and pre-placed the other nine tranches. Barclays Bank, the sponsor, has taken a 5% risk retention. The seller is Isle of Wight Home Loans. The Class A has a weighted-average life of 2.33 years and carry a coupon of Sonia plus 120bp. The first optional...

MUFG Bank has appointed Masakazu Osawa as its regional executive for Asia-Pacific. Osawa was previously head of the digital service business group and chief digital transformation officer for both the bank and MUFG Group. He will relocate to Singapore from Japan and oversee the bank's operations across the region and relationships with global corporates, Japanese corporates and commercial banking business groups. He has replaced Daisuke Ejima, who becomes president director of Bank Danamon Indonesia, in which MUFG owns a 92.47% stake. Maureen...

SVB Financial Group's hopes to keep its investment banking operations together through bankruptcy – most likely with a sale or less likely emerging as a restructured advisory firm – are being dashed as key bankers begin to decamp for other banks. SVB Financial is the parent of Silicon Valley Bank, which was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp in March after a bank run. Moelis is understood to have taken a run at the investment bank, taking as many as 10 senior bankers from SVB Securities, including global co-head of investment...

Mechanical and plant engineering firm Duerr has placed a €300m green Schuldscheindarlehen as it continues its pioneering role in sustainable corporate finance. Proceeds have been earmarked solely for sustainable product innovations and climate-friendly projects. It is Duerr’s first green use of proceeds financing after previously issuing sustainability-linked SSDs. The green SSD is aligned to the EU taxonomy for classifying environmentally sustainable economic activities as well as the company’s sustainable finance framework, which was...

Irish specialist mortgage lender Dilosk priced its latest RMBS at the tight end of the guidance ranges, right across the capital structure alongside health coverage ratios. Lead arrangers Bank of America (billing and delivering) and Natixis set initial price thoughts of 90bp–95bp over three-month Euribor for the senior notes (€471m) of Dilosk RMBS No. 6 (STS), the first securitisation from the originator to qualify for the simple, transparent and standardised label. Guidance was set at 87bp–90bp with the spread set at 87bp. The deal also...

UK car finance company Blue Motor Group gave the sterling ABS market a set of much-needed pricing benchmarks on Wednesday when it allocated a multi-tranche securitisation of hire purchase receivables, including a £181.4m (£172.3m offered) Triple A rated Class A note that was priced at a spread of 80bp over Sonia. The final margin on the senior tranche of Azure Finance No. 3 was at the wide end of the final guidance range of 75bp–80bp, but substantially tighter than initial price thoughts of 90bp–95bp. It was just 18bp wide of the previous week...

Foods company Samworth Brothers has agreed a £150m sustainability-linked revolving credit facility with a club of three banks. Existing lenders HSBC and Lloyds and new lender NatWest are providing the financing. HSBC is sustainability coordinator. The financing is linked to three of Samworth Brothers’ ESG priorities covering a reduction in carbon, a reduction in food waste intensity and an increase in the number of apprenticeships across the business. Samworth Brothers agreed a £130m multi-currency RCF in 2019, which was reduced to £100m...

Bankers are hoping to bring the first US IPO since the collapse of SVB Financial roiled markets in March but ECM activity is still likely to remain subdued as investors focus on macro developments and prepare for potentially turbulent first-quarter earnings reports. The shortened week due to religious holidays (Passover/Easter) resulted in little activity and all of it concentrated in the first half. No IPOs priced or launched and syndicate desks priced just one block, a US$92.1m offering from winery Duckhorn Portfolio, and one wall-crossed...

REC attracted offshore investors with a rare investment-grade deal from India on Monday – a US$750m five-year green note priced at 212.5bp over Treasuries. The 5.625% 2028 bonds were sold at 99.854 to yield 5.659%. A syndicate banker on the trade estimated a new issue premium of 7.5bp was included in the price, while a different Hong Kong-based banker on the transaction estimated about 8bp–9bp of concession. The notes were trading about 2bp–4bp tighter in the secondary market the day after pricing. Initial price guidance had started at the...

The Republic of Maldives will hold calls on April 12 to update global investors about its fiscal, social and economic developments. Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC, JP Morgan and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector will arrange the call, which will be attended by finance minister Ibrahim Ameer and other government ministers and representatives from the country's debt management team. The government held sukuk investor calls last December, arranged by the same group of banks. The Maldives, rated Caa1/B– (Moody's/Fitch...