Italy’s first government green bond issuance – launched on Wednesday – has been hailed as an important milestone by fund manager NN Investment Partners.
The government green bond was issued for a total of €8.5 billion, reportedly making it the largest debut issuance in Europe to date.
Around 90% of the bond will be allocated to transport, energy efficiency and protection of the environment and biological diversity, NN IP confirmed following a pre-issuance call.
Bram Bos, lead portfolio manager, green bonds at NN IP, said: “We believe this is an important milestone for the green bond market as treasury portfolios make large allocations to Italian government bonds.”
Italy is the tenth European country to have issued a green bond, following a sovereign boom in the space seen last year.
“The growth of the green bond market keeps on accelerating and the strong increase in issuance from governments gives more investors the chance to greenify their fixed income portfolios,” Bros added.
The bond was issued with a maturity of 24 years.
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