Le mie ricette per la real estate communityAXA IM Alts announces that its flagship European logistics fund, AXA Logistics Europe Master (“AXA Logistics Europe” or the “Fund”) has successfully priced an €800 million green bond, with an ambitious Green Finance Framework (the “Green Notes” or the “Green Bond”). The Fund provides well-diversified exposure to a high quality Logistics portfolio to a wide range of institutional investors across Europe, North America and Asia, through its leading stake in the €4.2 billion European logistics platform[2] managed by AXA IM Alts’ market leading Real Assets team.
This represents the first bond issuance undertaken by AXA Logistics Europe, attracting strong demand with a c. 4 times oversubscribed order book, amounting to €3.2 billion. The Green Notes were placed across a broad range of 136 European and international institutional investors and have been assigned an A- rating by Fitch. The Green Notes were issued across two tranches, including €500 million with a five-year maturity, and €300 million with an eight-year maturity. Maturing in 2026 and 2029, the Green Notes pay a coupon of 0.375% and 0.875% and have an issue price of 99.448% and 99.249% respectively.
The Green Bond was issued under AXA Logistics 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 2019, AXA Logistics Europe has assembled a portfolio of around 130 assets located across key logistics hubs in 11 European countries. Diversified by location and its base of more than 100 tenants, the Fund’s portfolio comprises c. 3.9 million sqm of high-quality primarily big box or last mile/urban logistics space, with an average occupancy of over 96%. The Fund has a BBB+ rating by Fitch, reflecting the quality of its geographically diversified portfolio of logistics assets and financial policy of maintaining low leverage.
The Fund aims to continue to pursue its growth strategy, with the acquisition and development of sustainable logistics centres, with energy efficient premises, incorporating wellbeing facilities for staff. The logistics sector stands to benefit from structural trends, including increasing demand as global trade rebounds, e-commerce continuing to grow, and companies seeking to improve the resilience of their supply chains.
The Green Bond aligns with AXA IM Alts’ wider ambition of seeking to affect positive changes in society through its investments and follows the issuance of two green bonds by AXA Core Europe earlier this year, with the second tranche pricing successfully in October 2021.
Source : AXA IM Alts