EDF issues the largest ever green convertible bond

BNP Paribas is sole structuring advisor for EDF's inaugural green convertible bond for €2.4 billion.

France’s EDF SA, a key player in the energy transition and a global leader in low-carbon energy, has launched a landmark offering of four-year green bonds convertible into new shares and/or exchangeable for existing shares of EDF.

This is EDF’s first convertible bond and the first “jumbo” green convertible bond ever issued, confirming the company’s ambitions in and commitment to renewable energy. As a core component of its Cap 2030 strategy, in 2015 EDF had set itself the goal of doubling its net installed renewables capacity to more than 50GW by 2030.

The proceeds of this offering will be allocated to the financing and/or refinancing of new and/or existing eligible projects, as defined in EDF’s Green Bond Framework. The company uses green bonds to finance the construction of new renewables generation capacity, to modernize existing hydropower generation facilities and to adapt existing hydropower assets to changing climate patterns.

BNP Paribas acted as sole structuring advisor and joint bookrunner on the issue, which is also the biggest non-mandatory convertible bond in the European market since 2003.

The convertible bond market is of increasing interest to issuers and investors alike, especially as it has resisted the Covid-19 crisis well. Issuance volumes in Europe have more than doubled since 2019.

EDF has also simultaneously raised €2.1 billion euros through two new tranches of euro-denominated hybrid notes, with BNP Paribas acting also as sole structuring advisor and joint bookrunner in these transactions.