The issue saw strong demand and was more than 1.5 times oversubscribed. The bonds of SEK 1.25 billion and SEK 2.25 billion were issued with tenors of 3 and 5 years respectively, both tenors with fixed and floating rate tranches.
This represents ICA Gruppen’s first green bond issue, following the company's recently established Green Finance Framework, developed to align with the ICMA Green Bond Principles. CICERO Shades of Green, now part of S&P Global, has provided a second party opinion of the framework, awarding it a Medium Green shading and the governance score Excellent.
ICA Gruppen has long worked purposefully to reduce its climate impact and the newly established framework enables green financing of ICA Gruppen's continued sustainability efforts. The areas covered by the framework are green buildings, renewable energy, clean transportation and eco-efficient products within the company's own brand range.
"Sustainability has for a long time been, and will continue to be, in the centre for ICA Gruppen as well as a key success factor for our business. The great interest in our green bond is encouraging and a clear testament that we have high credibility in what we do and our ambitious sustainability goals," says Kerstin Lindvall, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer at ICA Gruppen.
Danske Bank was Lead sustainability advisor in establishment of the Green Finance Framework with Handelsbanken and SEB as co-advisors. The bonds will be listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm.
The Green Finance Framework and Second Party Opinion by CICERO Shades of Green can be found at ICA Gruppen's website, Green Financing.
For more information
ICA Gruppen press service
Telephone number: +46 (0)10 422 52 52
E-mail: press@ica.se
ICA Gruppen AB (publ) is one of the leading retail companies in the Nordics with a focus on food and health. The Group includes ICA Sweden and Rimi Baltic which mainly conduct grocery retail, ICA Real Estate which owns and manages properties, ICA Bank which offers financial services, ICA Insurance and Apotek Hjärtat which conducts pharmacy operations. In 2022, ICA Gruppen had a turnover of approximately SEK 136 billion.