BAML leads Q1 green bond underwriters table, Chinese follow

Green bond issuance in the first quarter (Q1) of 2016 reached USD 16.5 billion (EUR 14.5bn) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) was again at the top of the Underwriter League Table.

Today SeeNews is publishing pieces of the Climate Bonds Initiative's (CBI) underwriters overview for the past quarter. The text was originally published on the CBI blog by chief executive Sean Kidney.

BAML leads the top 5 Q1 underwriters league table, remaining 4 spots were taken by Chinese underwriters

Bank of America Merrill Lynch maintained its high gear from last year and tops the Underwriter League Table for the first quarter of 2016, with a total underwriting amount of USD 1.99 billion from 11 deals. These include joint lead underwriter for the USD 1.5 billion Apple corporate green bond (alongside Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan) and sole underwriter for all three US muni issues of the quarter.

But, the main story for the market has been the great leap forward in the Chinese green bond issuance with a total USD 7.9 billion from 10 deals of four issuers, all by commercial banks during the quarter. Not surprising then to see Chinese underwriters fill the remaining four spots in the Top 5.

Chinese Underwriters

Guo Tai Jun An Securities ranks second with a total amount underwritten of USD 1.65 billion from four separate deals, joint-underwriter for the Bank of Qingdao green issuance and the co-underwriter for the two sizable Shanghai Pudong Development Bank green bond deals.

Then come three Chinese underwriters who all underwrote the same amount of USD 1.34 billion. China International Capital, Haitong Securities, and Huatai Securities, all acted in the two mammoth Shanghai Pudong Development Bank issuances totalling USD 5.8 billion.

Top 5 Green Bond Deals in Q1 2016

Regular names in the Green Bond league table have been pushed back following this Chinese influx

Credit Agricole CIB (CA-CIB) comes in at sixth position with a total of amount of USD 0.85 billion from eight deals, including acting as a sole underwriter for its own Uridashi issuance as well as EBRD and World Bank green bonds over the quarter.

Samuel A Ramirez & Co INC, SEB, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan are also ranked in the top ten with USD 0.78 billion, USD 0.74 billion, USD 0.73 billion, and USD 0.66 billion underwritten, respectively.

Another five Chinese underwriters ranked in Top 20 are Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial & Comm Bank of China, and Zhongtai Securities.

This round of reshuffling in the underwriter league table has revealed some exciting momentum in the Chinese green bond market.

As the market grows we are expecting more new underwriters to emerge.

About CBI's league table:

All data includes only bonds labelled and marketed to investors as ‘green’ or ‘climate’, the primary definition of this market. This means that figures do not include renewable energy projects or other bonds linked to green projects but not labelled and marketed as such;
Totals are calculated by taking the total deal size divided by the number of lead managers as is the general practice (with exception of the US municipal bonds where the total deal size is allocated to the lead underwriter which follows the general practice in the US municipal bond market);
Some issuances fall on the cusp of the quarter in which case we use the announcement date as recorded on Bloomberg to determine its quarter;
Exchange rates taken as the last price on the announcement date;

Disclaimer: The information contained in this communication does not constitute investment advice and the Climate Bonds Initiative is not an investment adviser.

The Climate Bonds Initiative is not advising on the merits or otherwise of any investment. A decision to invest in anything is solely yours. The Climate Bonds Initiative accepts no liability of any kind for investments any individual or organisation makes, nor for investments made by third parties on behalf of an individual or organisation.

(EUR 1 = USD 0.877)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!