Le mie ricette per la real estate communityAXA IM Alts, a global leader in alternative investments with c. €163 billion of assets under management[1], announces that its flagship European open-ended real estate fund AXA CoRE Europe (“AXA Core Europe” or the “Fund”) has priced a second green bond with a €500 million issuance (the “Green Notes” or the “Green Bond”). The Green Bond has an eight and a half year maturity and is the first to be issued under a new €3 billion euro medium-term note (“EMTN”) programme which AXA IM Alts has created on behalf of AXA Core Europe to facilitate further issuances. The Fund, which recently passed €5 billion in assets under management[2], is managed by AXA IM Alts’ market leading Real Assets team[3] on behalf of a wide range of investors across Europe, North America and Asia including over 60 third party clients.
The Green Bond was 4.6 times oversubscribed, attracting a €2.3 million orderbook, with the Green Notes placed across a broad range of c. 167 European and international institutional investors. Maturing in April 2030, the Green Notes pay a coupon of 1.25% and have an issue price of 99.292%. This offering follows AXA CoRE Europe’s inaugural €500 million green bond, which launched last June. As with the first green bond, the Green Notes have been assigned a BBB+ investment grade rating by S&P Global ratings.
The majority of the proceeds from the Green Bond will be used to refinance existing secured debt, with the balance invested in suitable assets from AXA CoRE Europe’s acquisition pipeline. The Green Notes improve the capital structure of the Fund by increasing the unsecured debt portion up to c.60% of the total debt, while maintaining a low rate of net leverage at c.25%.
The Green Bond was issued under AXA Core Europe’s Green Finance Framework which has been approved by Sustainalytics, a market leading independent ESG and corporate governance research, ratings and analytics firm, which confirmed its alignment with the ICMA Green Bond Principles.
Launched in 2016, AXA CoRE Europe seeks to provide institutional investors with long-term stable income through the acquisition of high-quality core real estate assets with resilient income profiles across major cities in Europe, adopting a research led approach to capitalise on individual market dynamics and timing. The Green Bond is in line with AXA IM Alts’ wider ambition of seeking to affect positive changes in society through its investments.
1. Source: AXA IM Alts unaudited data, as of June 2021
2. Source: AXA IM Alts unaudited data, as of June 2021
3. Source: INREV/ANREV Fund Manager Survey – June 2021 – in terms of assets under management
Source : AXA IM Alts