Santiago, Chile - CMPC announced that it has successfully priced a USD $500 million, 10-year inaugural Sustainability-Linked Bond (“SLB”). The bond received an important demand from global and particularly from ESG dedicated investors and was priced at a yield of 3,085%, equivalent to a spread of 135 bps. This represents the tightest ever re-offer yield and coupon for a bond in USD in CMPC’s history. BNP Paribas, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan served as Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners, with Santander and MUFG also serving as Joint Bookrunners. BNP Paribas and JP Morgan also acted as Co-Sustainability Coordinators on the issuance.
CMPC’s SLB, the first from a Chilean company, highlights its commitment with a business model which effectively addresses climate-related risks. The SLB links CMPC’s performance to two of the Company’s four publicly stated environmental sustainability goals with the sustainability performance targets described below:
- Greenhouse gas emissions: 23.5% reduction of its CO2 emissions by 2025, and 50% by 2030;
- Industrial water use intensity: 25% reduction in industrial water use by 2025.
The SLB includes a step-up mechanism whereby the bond’s coupon will be impacted if the Company does not achieve a KPI at the target date. This innovative financing is aligned to the Sustainability-Linked Bond Principles published by the International Capital Markets Association, and offers incentives to achieve results for the Company in line and beyond publicly expressed commitments to sustainability. DNV-GL provided a Second Party Opinion on CMPC´s Framework, and both documents are available on the Company´s investors website (ir.cmpc.com).
This SLB further demonstrates CMPC’s commitment to ESG initiatives and sustainable finance globally, and is the latest in the Company’s pioneering milestone initiatives in sustainable finance:
- In August 2020, CMPC closed a USD 100 million syndicated revolving credit facility (RCF) structured as a sustainability-linked loan;
- In 2019, CMPC made public its four corporate sustainability goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the industrial use of water in its operations, increase the area for protection, conservation and restoration, and transition to a zero waste to landfill company;
- The Company also issued its third green bond in the Chilean local capital markets in 2019, following previous issuances in Peru (2018) and the United States (2017). CMPC’s 2017 green bond was the first green bond issuance from a Chilean company in the international capital markets. Moreover, in 2019, the Company also closed its first green loan, via a five-year term Samurai loan.
More information available on CMPC's website.
