Ecobank Lists $450M Nature Bond on London Stock Exchange

Ecobank Group announced the listing of a $450 million Nature Bond on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), which represents the world's first commercially issued nature bond designed under the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) guidelines. This bond aims to support sustainable agriculture, natural capital, and water supply and sanitation projects within Ecobank's operational footprint.

The transaction attracted significant investor interest, with the final order book exceeding $1.36 billion, representing 3.9 times oversubscription of the original target size of $350 million. Due to the strong demand, Ecobank increased the transaction size from $350 million to $450 million and tightened the pricing by 50 basis points from the initial guidance, reflecting a greenium of 50 basis points.

Moody's assigned the transaction its highest sustainability quality score (SQS1). The final allocation of the bond was approximately 55% to the UK and Europe, 38% to Africa, 3% to the Middle East, 2% to the US, and 2% to Asia, with participation from development finance institutions focused on sustainable funding.