Edenred (Euronext Paris : FR0010908533) (the “Company”) has successfully placed today an inaugural sustainability-linked bonds convertible into and/or exchangeable for new and/or existing shares (“OCEANE”) due 2028 (the “Bonds”) for an aggregate nominal amount of approximately €400 million by way of a placement to qualified investors only (the “Offering”). The Offering represents today 6,173,792 underlying shares.
The par value of the Bonds has been set at €64.79, corresponding to a premium of 37.5% above Edenred’s reference share price on the regulated market of Euronext in Paris (“Euronext Paris”).
The Bonds will be issued on June 14, 2021 (the “Issue Date”), being the expected settlement and delivery date of the Bonds. The Bonds will be issued at an issue price equal to 100.875% of par, which corresponds to a yield to maturity of -0.12% and will not bear interest.
The net proceeds of the Offering will be used by the Company for general corporate purposes, including the financing of potential external growth operations.
To coincide with the placement, Edenred published its first Sustainability-Linked Bond Framework, which was reviewed by an external third party and is based on the achievement of three sustainable performance targets:
- People: 34% of women in executive positions by 2025
- Planet: 15% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 versus 2019
- Progress: 64% of merchants and users made aware of balanced nutrition and food waste by 2025
Guided by Edenred’s purpose, “Enrich Connections. For Good”, this operation demonstrates the Group’s concrete commitment to sustainable development, which is notably reflected in:
- The ten People, Planet, Progress objectives in its “Ideal” corporate social responsibility strategy, addressing 12 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals;
- The indexation of the financial conditions of its syndicated credit line to two of these criteria since 2020;
- The conditions governing free share allocation plans, 25% of which since 2021 have been linked to the achievement of quantified objectives in terms of diversity, the fight against global warming and awareness of sustainable nutrition (see press release dated May 11, 2021).
Julien Tanguy, Executive Vice President, Finance, said: “The success of this placement illustrates Edenred’s good credit quality as well as investors’ confidence in the Group’s financial strength and in our strategy of sustainable and profitable growth. We are also proud to be among the very first French companies to issue a sustainability-linked convertible bond. With this issuance, we are making sustainable development an even greater component of our business performance, true to our purpose, ‘Enrich Connections. For Good’.”
