Caixin
Caixin Global – Latest China News & Headlines

Home >

ABOUT US

CX Tech is Caixin Global's real-time tech news portal, featuring 24-hour news, short-form analysis, and roundups from business and tech media in China.

TRENDING
China’s Robotics Industry Index Rises 6.4%
WeChat Opens AI Agent Ecosystem for Food Orders and Flight Bookings
Pentagon Adds Alibaba, Baidu, BYD and Nio to Chinese Military-Linked List
LATEST
China Targets 10,000 Humanoid Robots in Commercial Use by End-2026
Chinese Tech Insiders Cash Out After AI Stock Rally
Pentagon Adds Alibaba, Baidu, BYD and Nio to Chinese Military-Linked List
WeChat Opens AI Agent Ecosystem for Food Orders and Flight Bookings
China’s Robotics Industry Index Rises 6.4%
Tencent Cloud Expands AI Agent Push as Yuanbao Races to Catch Rivals
Tencent Opens WeChat to Handset Makers’ AI Assistants
China Launches New Reusable Rocket to Accelerate Satellite Deployment
DJI, Insta360 Lock Horns in Camera Pricing Standoff
Tencent Gains $53 Billion in Value on Reports of WeChat AI Agents
Chinese Chipmaker YMTC Claims 13% of $46 Billion Global NAND Market
China’s Robotics Funding Frenzy Picks Up
In Depth: China Arms Itself With New Legal Tools to Scruntinize Overseas Investment
Zhipu Seeks $2.2 Billion Shanghai Listing to Fuel AI Expansion
In Depth: Huawei’s Bid to Rewrite the Rules of Chip Scaling
Humanoid Robot Maker Unitree Advances Toward $618 Million Shanghai IPO
MiniMax Eyes Shanghai Listing as China AI Firms Chase Capital
China AI Developer Zhipu Hits Record $112 Billion Valuation
Luxshare Gets Lenient Antitrust Fine Over Wingtech Deal
Flying-Car Startup Volant Raises $147 Million Ahead of Potential IPO
Cofco Raises $2.1 Billion in China’s First Sustainability Loan

By Bloomberg / Jul 17, 2019 02:40 AM / Finance

Photo: VCG

Photo: VCG

The trading division of China’s biggest food company obtained a $2.1 billion loan that links all of its main financing lines to environmental targets.

Cofco International Ltd.’s deal marks the first time a Chinese mainland company has embraced this new kind of financing agreement, known in the industry as a sustainability-linked loan. The deal offers lower interest rates in exchange for meeting targets such as tracing the origins of its soybeans to ensure they don’t contribute to deforestation in Brazil.

ING Group NV, Rabobank Group and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA are the sustainability coordinators of the Cofco International loan. ABN Amro Group NV is the coordinator.

Cofco International estimates savings of about $1 million a year by meeting its targets and plans to spend the money funding its own sustainability goals, such as reducing the use of fossil fuels.

The loan includes three tranches with one- and three-year tenors. It’s priced 80 basis points above the London Interbank Offered Rate on the one-year tranche and 90 basis points on the three-year tranche. The loan’s margin offers as much as 5 basis points of incentive or premium depending whether targets are met. A basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point.

Cofco’s deal ranks among the world’s biggest sustainability-linked loans and the largest in the commodity trading industry. It will replace existing revolving credit and term-loan facilities, making it the first time a commodities trader tied its core source of trade finance capital to green targets.

Related: For Bond Investors in China, It’s Not Easy Buying Green


Share this article
Open WeChat and scan the QR code