CABEI launches its inaugural Education Bond with the support of Dai-ichi Frontier Life

Tegucigalpa, December 21, 2022. The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) made yet another ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issuance debut by placing a US$50 million, 10-year fixed-rate “CABEI and Dai-ichi Frontier Life Education Bond” in Japan. The proceeds of this transaction, that places CABEI amongst the leading global sustainability driven issuers, will fund the bank’s “My New School Program” in El Salvador under its Social Bond Framework.

CABEI’s Executive President, Dr. Dante Mossi stressed the importance of this new ESG milestone for the bank, stating that “having Dai-ichi Frontier Life directly supporting our New School Program in El Salvador is a strong demonstration of the robust nature of our social projects and of the confidence vested upon us and El Salvador. Such program supports the remodeling of infrastructure and technological equipment of at least 186 schools located in areas with a high rate of multidimensional poverty, and aims to improve the quality of education, reduce dropout rates, develop skills to increase employability and contribute to reduce the country’s wage gap.”

Prior to this tenth social issuance, CABEI had executed nine (9) social bonds this year; three (3) denominated in Australian Dollars (AUD) for an equivalent of US$163 million, three (3) denominated in US Dollars (USD) totaling US$105 million, two (2) denominated in Mexican Pesos (MXN) for an equivalent of US$395 million and one (1) denominated in Swiss Francs (CHF) for an equivalent of US$218 million. As such, the sum of social issuances for 2022 reached US$881 million, scattered across different markets and currencies in alignment with CABEI’s proven funding strategy.

In light of the above, Dr. Mossi emphasized that “the bank’s commitment to continually deploy new and innovative ESG bonds is in line with our strategy to finance environmental and social projects that generate positive impacts within the Central American population in order to improve their living standards.”

CABEI was pleased to work with Jefferies International Limited on its first ever Education Bond and to have a high-quality investor such as Dai-ichi Frontier Life. The support of Japanese investors once again illustrates their confidence in the Institution, which has obtained 18 rating upgrades in the last 20 years, on its way to becoming the best rated issuer in Latin America at “AA”.