Fabege issues green commercial paper together with Handelsbanken

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Fabege issues green commercial paper

During 2019, Fabege updated its green offering and in June 2019, as the second company in the world, issued green commercial paper and a green loan facility was established with Handelsbanken. In September, the next step was taken and a green bond was issued under the same terms.

Ambitious sustainability work has been an important part of Fabege's operations for many years. The company develops long-term, attractive neighbourhoods through its work on sustainable urban development with a focus on commercial properties in the Stockholm area, focusing on issues related to ecological values, energy efficiency, indoor environment, waste management, transport of goods, public transport, chemicals and environmentally safe building materials.

For Fabege, it is important that all parts of the business contribute, and capital is an important factor for a more sustainable development. Therefore, efforts have been made to include funding in the sustainability work. With this as a starting point, Fabege, with Handelsbanken as advisor, has established a new framework for green financing.

On 2 September, the company took the next step and issued a green bond under the new framework. Following a well-attended investor presentation in Stockholm, Fabege issued its first green bond on Tuesday under the new terms. The issue was highly sought after and was oversubscribed.

The new framework aims to establish a standard for green financing that can be used in several of Fabege's various sources of funding. The framework has been designed to give Fabege a broad opportunity for green financing and is based on environmentally certified properties as well as ambitious energy targets.

The idea is to be able to easily link more sources of financing to the same framework in the future. Fabege strives for simplicity and to be able to give its financiers similar conditions as much as possible.

Åsa Bergström

Åsa Bergström, Vice President and CFO at Fabege, looks ahead:

- We are well on our way to our goal of certifying the entire property portfolio and the work on energy efficiency continues. New technology offers many new opportunities. 

The design of sustainable neighbourhoods and what makes a place attractive and sustainable are also important issues for those of us working with urban development.

Tobias Lindberg

Tobias Lindbergh, who is responsible for sustainable financing at Handelsbanken Debt Capital Markets, sees that there is a growing demand for green financing solutions:

- Green financing began in the bond market and is now spreading to other financial instruments. Green commercial paper and green bank loans are an important development to accommodate more clients and financing needs, as well as allow more investors to allocate capital towards green investments. 

Fabege has taken an important step to further innovate and develop the market in this space, and we are happy to have participated in this important development.