July 29, 2021
Green Financing 2.0
MANN+HUMMEL issues green Schuldschein with sustainability linked component worth 150 million euros – 50 national and international investors.
Ludwigsburg, 29 July 2021 – Back in 2017 MANN+HUMMEL Group was the world’s first automotive supplier to issue a green Schuldschein, thereby highlighting the importance of sustainability also in its financing strategy. After a second green Schuldschein was issued in 2019, a third transaction was completed in July 2021, which includes a sustainability linked component along with a commitment to use funds for green purposes.
The interest margin for the Schuldschein will be increased/decreased by 0.05 percent according to MANN+HUMMEL’s score from sustainability rating agency Ecovadis. In order to underline MANN+HUMMEL’s long-term ambitions, the threshold for adjusting the interest margin will be increased again after five years. This new structure will thus create an incentive for continuous and, above all, long-term improvement efforts towards greater sustainability.
Oversubscribed several times
Thanks to the very strong interest among German and international investors the original target issuing volume of 100 million euros was oversubscribed several times. This prompted MANN+HUMMEL’s decision to increase the volume of the green Schuldschein with sustainability component to a total of 150 million euros. The company is using the revenue generated by the transaction to early repay existing financial liabilities.
A total of around 50 investors from the banking and institutional sector subscribed to the new Schuldschein. Due to the good creditworthiness and its sustainable nature, the transaction attracted many new investors. Initially, MANN+HUMMEL offered tenors ranging from three to ten years and was finally able to allocate around 60 percent of the volume in the longer tenors (seven and ten years).
Emese Weissenbacher, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, is pleased with the success of the transaction: “Driven by our vision of ‘Leadership in Filtration’ we are honouring our responsibility towards present and future generations. With our green Schuldschein linked to our sustainability rating, we are not only committing to financing and refinancing eligible green projects, we are also measuring ourselves against the future development of our sustainability rating. The huge interest in the long tenors shows us that the investors are willing to support MANN+HUMMEL in achieving this long-term goal.”
Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, ING Bank and UniCredit acted as lead arrangers. The Schuldschein was certified by Sustainalytics, a leading independent service provider for research and ratings in the area of sustainability, environment and leadership.
MANN+HUMMEL was supported by Linklaters LLP as legal adviser.
