BME admits a 52 million-euro´s health and social bond from the Madrid region

• It is the first bond issued by a Public Administration to finance the fight against Covid-19
• The seventh bond issue linked to social or sustainable objectives carried out by the Madrid region in this BME market
• There are eight sustainable, green or social bonds registered so far this year

Today BME’s AIAF Fixed Income market admitted the first health and social bond to trading from a Spanish Public Administration to finance the fight against Covid-19. The bond was issued by the Madrid region and its value amounts to 52 million euros.

The bonds have an individual value of 1,000 euros and its amortisation will take place in May 2023. The transaction was carried out through a private placement in which BBVA acted as the single Placement Entity and Mapfre AM fully subscribed the issue in order to use it as the underlying asset for its “Mapfre Compromiso Sanitario” three-year guaranteed investment fund, specifically created to support health efforts in the fight against the Covid-19 crisis.

It is the seventh issue to incorporate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria registered with the AIAF market by the Madrid region since 2016, thus becoming an issuer of reference in the field of sustainable finance and consolidating the AIAF market as the benchmark for this type of issues.

The Madrid region has Baa1 rating, stable outlook, granted by Moody’s; A-, positive outlook, by S&P, and A-, positive, by DBRS.

Gonzalo Gómez Retuerto, General Manager of BME Renta Fija, explains that “this issue evidences the important role that the financial markets are playing to deal with the Covid-19 crisis, in an environment in which social issues are increasingly valued by the investing community”.

So far this year eight ESG bonds have been registered with the AIAF market, issued by Bankinter (750 million), Adif  (600 million), the Navarra region (for a total amount of 75 million euros), and the Madrid region itself, which in April placed its first green bond for 700 million euros and closed a sustainable bond transaction worth 1.25 billion euros in February.