Bank of China contributes to a €5 billion EUR syndicated sustainability-linked revolving credit facility to RWE for refinancing and general purposes

Project narrative

In July 2023, a syndicate of 28 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a €5 billion EUR syndicated sustainability-linked revolving credit facility (RCF) agreement with RWE AG — a German multinational power generation and trading utility company headquartered in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia operating in Europe, the United, and the Asia-Pacific and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange — for refinancing and general purposes. This loan carried a maturity period of one year with two six-month extension options, at the borrower's option. As a sustainability-linked RCF, this loan assessed the borrower's performance on sustainability-linked metrics, where positive performance would result in a positive ratchet of the RCF's commitment fees and interest rate, and negative performance would result in a negative ratchet of the commitment fees and interest rate. The proceeds of this RCF were intended to refinance an existing loan from 2022 and for general purposes, namely giving the borrower flexibility when securing commodity forward transactions and its commodity-hedging activites. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed to the loan syndicate: UniCredit S.p.A, Bank of America, Commerzbank AG, Société Générale S.A. (SocGen), Barclays Bank Plc, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA), BNP Paribas S.A., Citigroup, Crédit Agricole Group, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank AG, HSBC Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., Mizuho Bank, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). UniCredit served as sustainability coordinator. UniCredit, Bank of America, Commerzbank, and SocGen served as underwriters and bookrunners. BOC, Barclays, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan, Mizuho, RBC, and SMBC served as mandated lead arrangers.