Norton Rose Fulbright advises banking consortium on EUR 3.5 billion sustainability bonds by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised a banking consortium consisting of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt GmbH (Technical Lead), Commerzbank AG, Danske Bank A/S, ING Bank N.V., Société Générale and The Toronto-Dominion Bank in connection with the successful issue of two multi-billion euro sustainability bonds by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The sustainability bonds with an issue volume of altogether EUR 3.5 billion are comprised of (i) a EUR 2.0 billion bond with a fixed rate of interest of 2.00 per cent which matures on 15 June 2032, and (ii) a EUR 1.5 billion bond with a fixed rate of interest of 2.250 per cent which matures on 14 June 2052.

The proceeds of the issue will be used by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to cover expenditures in connection with projects with clear environmental and/or social benefits, belonging to the following categories: affordable basic infrastructure; access to essential services; affordable housing; employment generation, and programmes designed to prevent and/or alleviate unemployment stemming from socioeconomic crises, including through the potential effect of SME financing and microfinance; food security and sustainable food systems; socioeconomic advancement and empowerment; renewable energy; energy efficiency; pollution prevention and control; environmentally sustainable management of living natural resources and land use; clean transportation; sustainable water and wastewater management; climate change adaptation and green buildings.
Both sustainability bonds were met with great interest among investors and were oversubscribed several times.

Christoph Enderstein, who leads the debt capital markets team at Norton Rose Fulbright in Germany, commented: "We have recently advised on a number of ESG bonds and are pleased to have been involved also with the successful issue of two new sustainability bonds by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia."

The Frankfurt team was led by partner Christoph Enderstein (Debt Capital Markets, Frankfurt). He was supported by counsel Dr. Michael Born, associates Andre Franchini Giusti, LL.M., and Quynh-Anh Nguyen-Xuan (all Debt Capital Markets, Frankfurt), as well as partner Tino Duttine and senior associate Sarah Heufelder (both Tax, Frankfurt).

HSBC Germany was advised in-house by Ulf Starke. On behalf of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Ministry of Finance was responsible in connection with the issue of the sustainability bonds.

The Frankfurt debt capital markets team of Norton Rose Fulbright lead by partner Christoph Enderstein advises both dealers and issuers in connection with national and international capital market transactions in the areas of debt capital markets and structured finance, in particular on bonds, commercial paper, mortgage bonds, structured notes, securitised derivatives, hybrid instruments, registered bonds, promissory notes and issuance programmes as well as all related regulatory issues.