Canadian Solar Inc., (the “Company”, or “Canadian Solar”) (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world’s largest solar power companies, today announced that it has won Environmental Finance’s Project Bond of the Year award for its innovative dual-tenor green project bond issuance in\u00a0Japan.<\/p>\n
Environmental Finance, an industry leading global publication, recognized best practices and issues that were significant in the development of the green bond sector at its Green Bond Awards 2018. The panel of judges included some of the world’s biggest green bond investors. In total, 32 awards have been given out worldwide.\u00a0 Other than\u00a0Canadian Solar, winners also include\u00a0Barclays,\u00a0Republic\u00a0of\u00a0France,\u00a0City of Paris\u00a0and\u00a0City of Cape Town.<\/p>\n
The world’s first dual-tenor bond served as the financing vehicle for\u00a0Canadian Solar’s\u00a019MW Gunma Aramaki Solar Power Plant when it was issued in\u00a0April 2017.\u00a0Canadian Solar\u00a0paved the way for this pioneering structure by combining maturity of 1.5 years and 18.7 years within a single-tranche of bond. The innovation in the tenor mechanism provided\u00a0Canadian Solar\u00a0with the flexibility to maximize the value of its investment through a potential sale to\u00a0Canadian Solar Infrastructure Fund, recently listed on the\u00a0Tokyo Stock Exchange, while preserving long-term financing support for its solar power project. Today,\u00a0Canadian Solar\u00a0is positioned as the leading international issuer of green project bonds in\u00a0Japan.<\/p>\n
The Gunma Aramaki project bond has been assigned an investment grade rating of “A”, the highest rating in\u00a0Japan\u00a0PV sector, by the\u00a0Japan Credit Rating Agency, Ltd.\u00a0(“JCR”) and has been independently certified as green bond in accordance with the Green Bond Principles 2016 published by the\u00a0International Capital Market Association\u00a0(“ICMA”) by the\u00a0Japan Research Institution, Limited\u00a0(“JRI”).\u00a0Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd.\u00a0acted as the bond arranger.<\/p>\n
“We are honored to receive the Project Bond of the Year Award and to be recognized for delivering world-class global innovation to finance solar investments,” commented Dr.\u00a0Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, “This is a remarkable accomplishment and we will continue to work with our financial partners and investors to grow a high-quality project development pipeline that underscores our long-term success in\u00a0Japan.”<\/p>\n
Full results of the Green Bond Awards 2018 can be found at\u00a0https:\/\/www.environmental-finance.com\/content\/news\/environmental-finance-green-bond-awards-winners-revealed-2018.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n