After receiving the highest credit rating in the Baltic States, Lietuvos energija is planning to distribute the green bonds

The state-owned Lietuvos energija Group expects great interest from investors as the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has granted it one of the highest investment grade credit rating. The Group has been granted with a BBB+ credit rating with the stable perspective, which is the best rating among similar energy enterprises of the Baltic countries and the second best rating among similar energy companies in Central Eastern Europe. Compared to the neighbouring country companies Latvenergo and Eesti Energia, the credit rating received by Lietuvos Energija is one or two notch above.
 
“We are convinced that the high credit rating we received will make Lietuvos Energija green energy projects very attractive to local pension funds and international investors community”, - stated Dr. Dalius Misiūnas, Chairman of the Board and General Manager of Lietuvos energija.
 
Upon receiving a high credit rating a state-owned Lietuvos energija Group is preparing to become the first Lithuanian company to distribute green bonds of 200 million euro. The duration of the bonds will be 7-10 years.
 
The distribution of bonds is planned during Q2 2017 after the investors roadshow running through 29 June to 5 July.
 
With the raised funds, Lietuvos energija is planning to finance investments into the wind energy, efficiency enhancement of the electricity distribution network, and projects for energy generation using waste and biomass fuel. According to the base prospectus that has been submitted for approval by the Luxembourg Financial Market Supervisory Authority, Lietuvos energija may issue up to 1 billion EUR bonds. Lietuvos energija is obliged to use the funds raised via the green bonds only to finance such investment that are eligible under green bond framework and the likely outcome is net positive environmental result. The Green Bond Framework of Lietuvos energija has been granted with the highest “shade of green” by the independent Nordic Environmental institute “Cicero” and the Swedish Environmental Research Institute.
 
Lietuvos Energija has chosen BNP Paribas and SEB Bank for both distribution and issue of green bonds.
 
The base prospectus will be published on the websites of Lietuvos Energija and Luxembourg: www.le.lt and www.bourse.lu, which will also be notified to the Bank of Lithuania and published on the websites of the Bank of Lithuania and Nasdaq Vilnius: www.lb.lt and www.nasdaqbaltic.com.