Bankinter Investment acts as sole arranger, placement agent and paying agent for the green bond programme that Canadian Solar EMEA has just registered with the MARF alternative fixed income market

Bankinter has acted as sole lead arranger, sole placement agent and paying agent for the Green Guaranteed Euro Medium Term Note Programme that Canadian Solar EMEA Capital Markets, S.A.U. —the Spanish subsidiary of Canadian listed company Canadian Solar Inc.— has recently placed on the Alternative Fixed Income Market (Mercado Alternativo de Renta Fija, or MARF) of Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME).

Bankinter Investment, Bankinter’s investment banking arm, has thus taken another step forward in its role of promoting green financing for companies. In October 2019, Bankinter Investment acted as lead arranger and sole placement agent of the first programme of green bonds to be registered on the MARF. The issuer at that time was Grenergy Renovables.

Moving forward to September of this year, Bankinter acted as lead arranger, dealer and agent bank in the first green finance framework promissory note programme to be registered by a Spanish company in the MARF, also by Grenergy Renovables.

With this bond programme, Canadian Solar’s subsidiary will be able to issue up to 100 million euros in medium and long-term securities, which will come with a minimum unit par value of 100,000 euros, fixed or variable coupons and maturities to be determined at the time of issuance. The bonds will be personally, unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by Canadian Solar Inc., as set out in the registration document.

The instruments issued under the programme may qualify as green bonds in accordance with the Green Bond Principles (GBP) published by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the second party opinion issued by Sustainalytics SARL in connection with the Green Financing Framework set up by Canadian Solar Inc. for EMEA.

Rating agency Axesor has assigned Canadian Solar Inc., the bond guarantor, a credit rating of “BBB”, stable outlook.

Canadian Solar is one of the world’s largest companies when it comes to solar and renewable energy production technologies. It is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules, a provider of solar energy and battery storage solutions and a key developer of solar energy system solutions, with a diversified pipeline across the globe and at different stages of development. Over the past 20 years, Canadian Solar has installed high quality solar PV modules with a cumulative installed capacity exceeding 59 GW worldwide. Since entering the project development business in 2010, Canadian Solar has developed, built and connected more than 6 GWp in more than 20 countries around the world. The company currently has solar power projects under development with an aggregate installed capacity of 22 GW and energy storage projects with a cumulative figure of 19 GWh. The company has been listed on the Nasdaq since 2006 and has a market capitalisation in excess of 2 billion dollars.