Egypt Launches 1st Green Bond Offering on London Stock Exchange

Egypt on Thursday announced the launch of its debut green bonds on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in a virtual event.

The $750 million, five-year green bonds is considered the largest green bond issuance in the MENA region, and the first of its kind to list on the LSE, according to a statement by the Ministry of Finance.

The Egyptian Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait, said that proceeds from the issuance will finance environmentally-friendly green projects in several sectors, including transportation and renewable energy.

For his part, the UK’s Middle East Minister, James Cleverly, and the Interim CEO of the LSE, Denzil Jenkins, welcomed the listing of MENA's first sovereign green bonds on the LSE, which will contribute to fostering partnership between the two countries in the face of the climate change.

The issuance attracted new segments of investors from Europe, the US, East Asia, and the Middle East that made up 47%, 41%, 6%, and 6%, respectively, of the issuance which was 7.4 times oversubscribed than the initial target of $500 million.