DP World has reinforced its commitment to sustainable operations by gathering US$1.5 billion through a Green Sukuk to fund its worldwide decarbonisation activities.
The Sukuk, which was oversubscribed by 2.3x due to significant demand from local, regional, and worldwide investors, is traded on Nasdaq Dubai and the London Stock Exchange.
Also, the Sukuk profits will be used to fund qualifying green projects in accordance with DP World’s newly issued Sustainable Finance Framework. Currently, underway initiatives include electrification, renewable energy, sustainable transportation, and energy efficiency.
With a gap of 119.8 basis points over US treasuries and a coupon rate of 5.5%, DP World’s Sukuk attained one of the world’s tightest spreads for a BBB+ rated business.
“We aspire to lead global trade into a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable future for our customers and their customers. That’s why we are acting with scale and ambition, using our hands-on expertise to reshape trade for the better. The price we achieved for this Green Sukuk is phenomenal and represents the confidence investors have in DP World as a company and our commitment to sustainability,” stated DP World group chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
According to DP World’s statement, the Sukuk’s demand was strengthened by good credit ratings from Moody’s (Baa2/Stable) and Fitch (BBB+/Stable), as well as strong ESG ratings from Sustainalytics (“Negligible risk”), CDP (A- Leadership), and MSCI (B).
DP World’s current portfolio of green and sustainable assets is spread throughout the globe and flows across many components of its broad multi-functional company, all of which strive to make global trade flow sustainably.
The firm has included electric freight transportation and hybrid vessels under Clean Transportation. Their electrified equipment demonstrates the maturity and strength of the decarbonisation initiative. The Group’s portfolio also includes a number of green buildings that fulfil internationally recognized green certification building standards such as BREEAM and LEED.
