Green Bonds of the Development Bank of Southern Africa subscribed by Agence Française de Développement: CMS, advisors to the subscriber
The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), a South African development funding institution, has successfully issued in February 2021 its first green bonds. The €200m bonds were governed by French law and issued through a private placement with the French development finance institution, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
The bonds have been structured in alignment with the DBSA's recently released Green Bond Framework which reiterates the DBSA's commitment to playing a role in the just transition to a low carbon economy. The Framework is aligned with the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Green Bond Principles.
The proceeds of the issue of the bonds will be applied to projects that contribute to climate mitigation and/or adaptation, that are aligned to the South Africa's National Development Plan's objective of an "environmentally sustainable and equitable transition to a low carbon economy" and that are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Read more here.
For this transaction, CMS teams in France and South Africa advised the subscriber, the Agence Française de Développement. For French law, the CMS Francis Lefebvre Avocats team comprised Marc-Etienne Sébire, partner and Yaël Fitoussi, associate. For South African law, the CMS RM Partners team comprised Riza Moosa, partner and Bridgett Majola, partner.
