Austria first sells green bonds

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Austria became the last government to enter the green bond market by selling 4 billion euros ($ 4.3 billion) of debt on Tuesday.

The bond, due to mature on May 23, 2049, is priced at 1.876% yield and holds 250 million euros to issue the Austrian Treasury, it says.

The bond attracted 25 billion euros in investor demand, according to a memo from one of the top managers seen by Reuters.

European governments have shown strong interest in the green bond issue, which finances eco-friendly projects, as investor demand has increased in recent years.

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Price bonds, including a “Greenium” – offer slightly lower yield green bonds than conventional loans due to higher demand – 2.5 basis points, said Marcus Sticks, managing director of the Austrian Treasury.

“Because of this Greenwich, the yield achieved (Austrian bond) was less than the maturity of October 2040, despite today’s maturity being more than nine years,” he added.

In addition to long-term green bonds, which will finance most of the country’s green fund demand, Austria is also the first government to include short-term debt instruments such as treasury bills and commercial paper in its green loan program, the Treasury said in a statement. Presentation before issue.

It will attract short-term based investors such as central banks, money market funds and bank treasuries, it said.

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Following Tuesday’s release, Austria plans to raise another 1 billion euros this year from the issuance of short-term green loans, said Austrian Treasury official Christian Schreix.

Austria has earmarked just over বিল 5 billion to fund each of its green bond programs for 2021 and 2022, the presentation showed, with nearly three-quarters of that being in clean transport.

The green bond issue has slowed this year, but activity has picked up, with France hiring banks on Tuesday to sell a green, inflation-linked bond.

Countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Britain are also planning to top up their existing green bonds.

Greece is also expected to launch its first issue in the second half of this year.

(1 = 0.9338 euros) (Reporting by York Bahseli; Editing by Jason Neely, Mark Potter and Jan Harvey)