Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, on July 9, marked the listing of its $450 million Sustainable Agriculture & Natural Capital Bond with a Market Open Ceremony at the London Stock Exchange. The transaction is the world’s first International Capital Market Association (ICMA)-designated Nature Bond from a commercial bank – and globally the first use-of-proceeds green bond to carry ICMA’s Nature Bond secondary designation. The bond is designed to support eligible lending across three categories – Sustainable Primary Production, Sustainable Agri-Processing, and Water Supply and Sanitation – in 24 markets within Ecobank’s operating footprint, with lending concentrated in nature- and biodiversity-priority markets. It also reflects Ecobank’s wider role in mobilising African and international capital for sectors central to Africa’s long-term resilience, including food systems, natural capital, supply chains and water systems. The transaction attracted strong investor demand, with a final orderbook exceeding $1.36 billion, representing 3.9 times oversubscription on the original target size of $350 million. The strength of demand allowed Ecobank to increase the transaction size by $100 million to $450 million and tighten pricing by 50 basis points from initial guidance, representing a greenium of 50 basis points. Moody’s assigned the transaction its highest Sustainability Quality Score, SQS1 (Excellent). The bond drew a diversified international orderbook. Final allocations were distributed approximately 55 per cent to the UK and Europe, 38 per cent to Africa, 3 per cent to the Middle East, 2 per cent to the US and 2 per cent to Asia, with participation from development finance institutions and dedicated sustainability-focused funds. FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, participated as the anchor investor. The bond is structured as a Tier 2 capital instrument with a 10.25-year tenor, callable in 5.25 years. Senior Ecobank representatives attended the Market Open Ceremony. They included Papa Madiaw Ndiaye, Chairman, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated; Jeremy Awori, Group Chief Executive Officer; Ayo Adepoju, Group Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer; and Rachael A.O. Antwi, Group Head, Sustainability. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated acted as Issuer, Originator and Sole Sustainability Structuring Adviser. Standard Chartered Bank and Renaissance Capital Africa acted as Joint Lead Managers and Joint Bookrunners. The London Stock Exchange ceremony marked the transaction as a milestone for African sustainable finance and highlighted the growing role of African financial institutions in developing credible, market-based solutions for climate and nature-related investment. About Ecobank Group (or ‘Ecobank Transnational Incorporated’ or ‘ETI’) Ecobank Group is the leading private pan-African banking group with unrivalled African expertise. Present in 34 sub-Saharan African countries, as well as France, the UK, UAE and China, its unique pan-African platform provides a single gateway for payments, cash management, trade and investment. The Group employs over 14,000 people and offers Consumer, Commercial, Corporate and Investment Banking products, services and solutions across multiple channels, including digital, to over 30 million customers. For further information, please visit ecobank.com.
