Abengoa Offers First Green Bond to Raise $642 Million

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) — Abengoa SA, a Spanish energy and
environment company, plans to issue its first green bond to
raise 500 million euros ($642 million) to finance projects.

The high-yield green bond, maturing in 2019, will be
offered in dollars and euros to institutional investors, Abengoa
said today.

The market for green bonds, which fund environmental and
climate-protection projects, is increasingly being tapped by
companies and public entities. The market may triple in size
this year to more than $40 billion, London-based researcher
Bloomberg New Energy Finance has forecast.

Abengoa’s issue will also be Europe’s first high-yield
green bond, according to the company. These bonds pay more than
investment-grade corporate ones because their credit ratings are
lower.

The Seville, Spain-based company expects to use the
proceeds for projects that meet certain environmental, social
and governance criteria until it obtains long-term funding for
the works. The green projects comprise renewable energy, water,
power transmission, energy efficiency, bioenergy and waste-to-energy plants, according to its website.

Abengoa, which listed a $721 million U.S. yieldco in June,
develops and operates clean energy, water, biofuels and power
projects such as transmission lines.

The company, the biggest developer of solar-thermal power
plants, is constructing the El Zapotillo aqueduct in Mexico, one
of the largest water projects in the world that’s to supply
drinking water to almost 1.5 million inhabitants. Other projects
include Morocco’s biggest desalination plant in Agadir.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Marc Roca in London at
mroca6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Randall Hackley, Ana Monteiro

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