CABEI taps Mexican Market with Social Issuance

Tegucigalpa, October 27^th 2022. The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) has issued its second ever social bond in the Mexican market, and it’s fourth for 2022. Consequently, the net proceeds of this social issuance will be directed to finance eligible Social Projects and assets under CABEI’s Social Bond Framework incompliance with the International Capital Market Association’s (ICMA) principles and will contribute to develop a more inclusive Central American region.

CABEI’s Executive President Dr. Mossi stated “Mexico is an important market for CABEI and as such, its investors have become key players on the development of the Central American region.” Dr. Mossi added “The bank’s commitment on issuing ESG bonds is a firm decision to support the development of a more sustainable region, enhancing its potential for a resilient and inclusive post-covid economic recovery”.

Amidst continuous market volatility and uncertainty, CABEI was able to surpass more than 2x the target size of the issuance of MXN1.5 billion, as a demonstration of the Bank’s franchise value as a recurring issuer in the Mexican Market. This issuance, also confirms CABEI’s status as the best credit in LATAM at “AA” resulting from a successful track record of 18 rating upgrades over the past 20 years. It is also worth noting that CABEI taps the Mexican market on a yearly basis since 2007.

The aforementioned MXN3 billion social bond, equivalent to USD150.9 million, was issued with a floating rate coupon of TIIE28+25bps for a 3-year tenor, and had a wide range of investors such as Commercial Banks 16%, Asset Managers 54% and Development Banks with 30%. The bond was rated mx.AAA and AAA.mx with S&P and Moody’s, respectively. Mexico represents almost 20% of CABEI’s historic bond issuances with an aggregate amount of USD2.9 billion through a total of 25 transactions since 2007.

Prior to this ESG issuance, CABEI had executed three social notes denominated in Australian Dollars (AUD) for an equivalent to USD162 million and one green bond denominated in Swiss Francs (CHF) for an equivalent of USD158 million in 2022.