5 times the offer for bonds that yield 4.3% – Corriere.it

Success beyond expectations for the bonds of the Eni group destined for the public and linked to sustainability objectives. The offer, which was initially supposed to close on 3 February and which was doubled from one to two billion, was closed early on 20 January thanks to the high demand from Italian investors. The overall demand was over 10 billion euro with requests received from over 300,000 investors and according to the Six-Legged Dog it was the Italian record for a single tranche corporate bond issue intended for retail. Eni’s CEO, Claudio Descalzi, commented: The success of this operation has been extraordinary and surprising. Above all, for us it was a very strong response in terms of trust from the Italian public, and this is the aspect that gives us the greatest satisfaction and strengthens us. Many Italians have believed in what we are doing, both in terms of progressive evolution towards decarbonised industrial processes and products, and in guaranteeing energy security.

The issue was the industry’s first in format sustainability-linked intended for the retail public. In 2021, the San Donato Milanese company launched the sector’s first Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework worldwide, which served as a reference for linking multiple financial instruments to relevant objectives of Eni’s decarbonization strategy.

The bonds, with a duration of 5 years, will be issued on 10 February 2023 for an amount of 2 billion euros at a price equal to 100% of their nominal value. They will pay a gross annual coupon of 4.3% which will remain unchanged until maturity in the event of the achievement of the sustainability objectives relating to the installed capacity for the production of electricity from renewable sources and the Net Carbon Footprint Upstream (Scope 1 and 2). In the event of failure to achieve even just one of the two targets, the interest rate relating to the coupon payable on the expiry date (February 10, 2028) will be increased by 0.50%, according to the methods described in the Information Prospectus. Starting from the issue date, it will be possible to trade the bonds on the electronic bond market (Mot) organized and managed by Borsa Italiana.