Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised an international banking syndicate on the recent debut bond issuance in the US of RWE AG as to matters of US securities laws, New York law and German law.

In the Rule 144A U.S. offering, RWE successfully placed its first green US dollar bond with a total volume of US$2 billion. The bond was issued in two tranches of US$1 billion with 10-year tenor and US$1 billion with 30-year tenor, respectively. This is RWE’s first green bond placement outside Europe.

The Clifford Chance team advised a syndicate of banks comprising BofA Securities, Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, HSBC Securities (USA), Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Mizuho Securities USA LLC, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, and RBC Capital Markets, LLC.

The green bond is the first of its kind for RWE AG in the US market. The proceeds of the notes will be used to finance or refinance eligible green projects in accordance with RWE AG’s Green Financing Framework, which covers investments in renewable energy generation, and the green bond is aligned with the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles and has received a second party opinion from Sustainalytics, a leading provider of ESG research and ratings.

The cross jurisdictional Clifford Chance team was led by capital markets partner George Hacket (Frankfurt). The core Global Financial Markets team comprised senior associate Andrei Manea, associates Gordana Golubic-Huertas and Maks Mencin (all Franklurt) as well as law clerk Aritra Chamak Saha (London).

Furthermore, partner Sebastian Marker, senior associate Wolfgang Ettengruber and associate Paulina Fecht (all Frankfurt) advised on German law aspects of the offering. Advice was also provided on tax matters by partner Avrohom Gelber (New York) as to US tax.