The World Bank issued its first green bond about one year ago after SEB took the initiative to do so and also lead managed the transaction. A second bond was issued in April with the state of California investing 300 million dollars. Both bonds have been expanded with further investments after the initial issues.
“Interest in the product is great and it is a great honour for us at SEB to manage this international cooperation,” says Christopher Flensborg at SEB's Capital Markets unit.
The World Bank plans to use the 130 million dollars raised in the issue for its programme to finance projects in developing countries that are aimed a reducing carbon emissions. Total funds available in the programme are now 790 million dollars.