NWB Bank issues 7-year EUR 1 billion Benchmark Water Bond

On Wednesday, 29th May 2024, the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank N.V. (NWB Bank), rated Aaa/AAA, issued a 7-year EUR 1 billion Water Bond to support NWB Bank’s lending to the Dutch water authorities. This new Water Bond benchmark issue by NWB Bank reinforces its role as a reliable and sustainable financial partner to the Dutch Water Authorities.

Execution Highlights
On Tuesday May 28th at 13:00 CET, the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank N.V. (NWB Bank), rated Aaa/AAA (all Stable) by Moody's/S&P, announced that they had mandated BNP Paribas, HSBC, NatWest Markets and SEB to lead manage its forthcoming 7-year syndicated Green transaction. Lead managers were to gather investor feedback during the afternoon in order to send out a guidance message on Wednesday morning. The following morning at 09:04 CET books opened, and guidance was set at MS+22bps area. The orderbook grew rapidly during Wednesday morning post guidance announcement, and with the orderbook in excess of EUR 3bn (excl. JLM) an hour after opening, the lead managers sent out an announcement at 10:09 CET with revised guidance of MS+20bps area. The orderbook continued to increase after the first update and final terms were sent out at 11:00 CET, announcing a final spread of MS+18bps, and books subject at 11:30 CET. Once the books closed, they had grown above EUR 4.8bn (incl. 350m JLM) with hardly any drops despite the 4bps tightening.

Summary of Allocation
In terms of investor type, the biggest allocation was given to Official Institution & Central Banks at 57%, followed by Asset Managers 21%, Banks 16%, Insurance and Pensions 4% and the remaining 2% to Other. In terms of geography, Ger/Aus/Switzerland, the Nordics and Asia were all allocated 21% each, followed by Benelux at 12%, France 10%, UK 5%, Southern Europe 5% and Other Europe at 4% and rest of the World 1%.

Transaction summary
Issuer: Nederlandse Waterschapsbank (NWB Bank)
Format: RegS, Bearer
Amount: EUR 1 billion
Settlement date: 5 June 2024
Maturity date: 5 June 2031
Issue price: 99.497%
Coupon: 3.00%
Issue yield: 3.081%
Spread: MS+18bps
Denomination: EUR 100,000 / EUR 1,000
Listing: Luxembourg Stock Exchange
Joint-Lead Managers: HSBC, BNP Paribas, NatWest Markets and SEB
ISIN: XS2834365277