IMM Issued Türkiye’s Fırst Local Government Greenbond

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality was a pioneer again. On 29th November 2023, following a very constructive 2-day roadshow, IMM took advantage of a supportive market window as well as strong momentum built throughout the roadshow to successfully price a USD 715m 5-year inaugural green bond with a 10.500% coupon. IMM issued Türkiye’s first municipal Greenbond on 6th of December on the London Stock Exchange.  IMM’s Finance Director Neslihan Vural announced this achievement by saying “Türkiye’s Green Bond target for 2023 was 1.5 billion dollars. We achieved half of this goal alone as IMM. We have collected more demands than all corporate companies did”.

London/England

The sustainable finance efforts initiated in June 2022 by the Mayor of IMM Ekrem Imamoğlu with his green and environmentally friendly İstanbul vision born its fruit. On 29th November 2023, following a very constructive 2-day roadshow, IMM took advantage of a supportive market window as well as strong momentum built throughout the roadshow to successfully price a USD 715m 5-year inaugural green bond with a 10.500% coupon. IMM issued Türkiye’s first municipal Greenbond on 6th of December on the London Stock Exchange.

IMM Broke A Demand Record In London Markets

IMM’s Finance Director Neslihan Vural said “We offered Türkiye’s first local government Green Bond to investors on the London Stock Exchange. 2.6 billion dollars of demand for IMM’s bond came by the end of the day. Yesterday, the demand record for 2023 was broken in the London markets. We collected more requests than all corporate companies did. We were able to sell this much because our official permission was 715 million dollars.

IMM Achıeved Half Of Türkiye’s Target

Pointing out that the Government and the Central Bank encourage institutions in Green Financing, IMM’s Finance Director Neslihan Vural said, “Türkiye’s Greenbond target for 2023 was 1.5 billion dollars, we achieved half of this goal alone. Moreover, when local governments provide financing, they borrow 2 points above the central government’s borrowing rate. We borrowed at 10.50 percent while the state’s borrowing rate in these financing items was 9.30 percent; the difference is less than 2 points. This situation also demonstrates the confidence to the financial power of IMM”.

Foreıgn Currency Has Entered In To The Country

Emphasizing that they deposited the money obtained from the bond issuance to the public bank, Neslihan Vural said, “At the time when the country needed foreign currency the most, we both provided foreign currency to the country and provided funds to public banks because we deposited our money in the public bank.”

The demand came from more than 200 different investment institutions for IMM’s bond issuance. These demands came from mostly the United Kingdom with 34 percent, and then 17 percent came from the USA, 12 percent from the United Arab Emirates, 11 percent from Switzerland and 26 percent from other countries.