Eni is chasing Enel in terms of financial sustainability. The oil group successfully launched the first sustainability-linked bond issue in its sector, with a nominal value of one billion euro placed on the Eurobond market as part of its Euro Medium Term Note Programme.
The issue - explained a note from the group - follows Eni's adoption of the "Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework" published on May 20, 2021 and represents the first global sustainability-linked bond in the sector. Looking at the Energy sector, however, it should be remembered that the oil industry has moved late on the sustainability front compared to groups in the electricity sector which have started a transformation on environmental and sustainability objectives well in advance. Enel, to mention the other national giant, has played a pioneering role on a global level and is not only the largest producer of renewable energy on a global level but also the first group in the world to have issued bonds linked to the defined sustainability objectives by the UN. Enel's Chief Financial Officer, Alberto De Paoli, spoke in a recent interview with FIRSTonline of this not only industrial but also financial transformation, recalling that the electricity group was the creator of the new products sustainability linked and which in 2019 issued them for 4 billion.
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Returning to Eni, the national champion must be acknowledged for having in any case started the process of transformation on a different path from the one started by Shell before him but certainly ahead of the energy giant of reference for the oil majors. ExxonMobil, forced into an unwilling swerve by activist funds at the last recent meeting.
The bond loan launched by Eni has a duration of 7 years, a re-offer price of 99,855% and pays an annual coupon of 0,375% which will remain unchanged until maturity based on the achievement of the sustainability objectives relating to the Net Carbon Footprint Upstream (Scope 1 and 2) and installed capacity for production of electricity from renewable sources, as indicated in the terms and conditions of the issue.
The proceeds of the issue will be used for Eni's ordinary needs.
The bonds will be traded on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and have been purchased by institutional investors mainly in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy.
