CIFI issued additional US$150 million in green bonds, reducing the short-term debt ratio to below 12%

Today, the first trading day of the new year, CIFI Holdings Group (00884.HK) intensively released positive benefits before and after the transaction. In the morning, the company announced that it would offer to redeem USD 505.1 million of USD debt due on January 23, 2022 in advance of a cash purchase.

In the evening, CIFI announced again that it would issue an additional US$150 million in green bonds and merge it with the US$350 million 4.45% green bond issuance in May 2021. The bond will mature in 2026.

In terms of green finance, CIFI has always insisted on innovation and leadership. As early as April 2020, CIFI established a green finance framework, and Sustainalytics, an independent third-party rating agency, issued a "Second Party Opinion" on the framework. Only three months after the establishment of the framework, CIFI issued its first green bond: 350 million,525 US dollar bonds with a coupon rate of 5.95%, which was 25 basis points narrower than the fair price in the secondary market at that time, and was evaluated by Standard & Poor's Green Finance E1 highest rating.

In May 2021, CIFI issued a second green bond with a total of US$500 million, including a 5.25-year bond of US$350 million with an interest rate of 4.45%, and a 7-year bond of US$150 million with an interest rate of 4.8%. The 150 million green bonds issued this time are officially based on the additional issuance of this issuance. It also makes CIFI one of the few mainland property stocks in the industry that has issued green bonds for three consecutive years, and green finance is becoming its core competitiveness.

It is worth mentioning that CIFI released the "Green Finance Report 2020" for the first time in July 2021, focusing on disclosing the use of funds for the first batch of green bonds issued in 2020, the environmental benefits generated, and the management and distribution of funds for the year. , And obtained third-party independent assurance from Ernst & Young to fulfill its green financial commitments with practical actions.

In addition, CIFI has been upgraded by MSCI's ESG rating for two consecutive years, and the current rating is BBB. In 2021, two newly opened commercial landmarks of CIFI Shanghai: Henderson CIFI World and CIFI Enterprise Building have both obtained LEED Gold certification. The CIFI Enterprise Building has naturally become the underlying asset of CIFI’s green bond issuance.

After hitting the combination of bond repurchase and green bond issuance, CIFI's debt structure has been further optimized. According to internal data estimates, CIFI's short-term debt ratio due within one year has been reduced to less than 12%, and the company's financial security has been highlighted.