Standard Chartered strengthens its leading position in the Formosa market with green senior USD bond for EDF

Paris, 3 February 2025, Standard Chartered announces its role as a global coordinator for a USD500 million offering of senior green notes issued by Électricité de France (EDF), which were listed simultaneously on the Taipei Exchange (TPEx) and Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The success of this transaction reflects Standard Chartered’s leading position in the Formosa market and, more broadly, its ability to support issuers across Asian markets.

This transaction, completed on 6 January 2025, enabled EDF to become the first Western corporate issuer to tap the Formosa market since March 2022 and the first Western corporate issuer to tap the short-dated Formosa market and access a new investor base in Taiwan that is different to the investor base on the long-end of the curve. The bond, with a 5-year maturity and a floating coupon indexed to Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), was oversubscribed with an order book just shy of USD800 million. The success of this transaction highlights once again the strength of the EDF credit and its leading position with investors in the international capital markets. The transaction also illustrates the attractiveness of the 5yr floating rate notes for the Taiwanese and broader Asian investor community, which accounted for over 90% of the orders, and their continued appetite for diversification.

The funds raised will be used to finance projects defined within EDF’s Green Financing Framework, which is aligned with the European taxonomy. The use of proceeds are specifically linked to the extension of the lifespan of eligible French nuclear reactors, aligned with the European taxonomy criteria. This transaction directly contributes to EDF’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and also helps EDF to once again diversify its sources of funding in the international capital markets.

Standard Chartered leveraged its expertise in the Asian fixed income market and in Taiwan, in particular. The Bank notably supported EDF in securing the TPEx green accreditation for this transaction, which was important for Taiwanese investors due to their increasing focus on ESG, in particular for energy-related issuers.

Isabelle Chastagner, Co-Head of Corporate Clients Coverage for France & Southern Europe, and Global Co-Head of Power, Utility and Heavy Industry Sector, at Standard Chartered, said: “This transaction not only highlights our expertise in the Formosa market but also underscores our role as a trusted partner in Asian markets. We are proud to support our corporate clients in achieving their strategic objectives with innovative and tailored financing solutions, particularly those that are helping support the energy transition.”

An internationally recognised player and expert in Asia

This transaction marks the third collaboration between Standard Chartered and EDF targeting Taiwanese investors, following successful issuances in 2016 and 2019, with maturities of 30 and 40 years, and 50 years, respectively.

Asian investors, particularly Taiwanese financial institutions, are currently demonstrating a strong appetite for high-quality issuers such as EDF. This issuance also highlights the desire of some European issuers to grow their investor base by tapping into strategic and attractive liquidity pools.

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For further information, please contact:

Shan 
Laurence Tovi
laurence.tovi@shan.fr   
+33 (0)6 20 58 29 02 

Lambert Volpi
Lambert.volpi@shan.fr
+33 (0)6 13 27 31 02 
 
Standard Chartered  
Claire Newell
Head of communications for UK and Europe
+44 7880 267668
Claire.Newell@sc.com 

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