China Construction Bank (Europe) contributes to a €440 million EUR syndicated green loan to Warehouse De Pauw to fund its pre-let real estate developments and Energy as a business strategy

Project narrative

On November 25, 2022, a syndicate of banks — including China Construction Bank (Europe) S.A. as bookrunner, mandated lead arranger, and agent — entered into a €440,000,000 EUR green term loan facility agreement with Warehouse De Pauw N.V. (WDP) — a Belgium-incorporated and based public regulated real estate investment company (BE-REIT) that develops and invests in logistics property listed on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Amsterdam — to fund its pre-let real estate developments and Energy as a business strategy. This term loan carried a maturity period of seven years, a final maturity date in early 2030, a bullet repayment profile, and a variable interest rate. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to fund its pre-let real estate developments and Energy as a business-strategy, with eligible green projects in the categories of green buildings, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and clean transportation as defined in WDP's Green Finance Framework. This loan was drawn down on January 13, 2023. In January 2023, WDP entered into a €500 million EUR pre-hedge interest rate swap, which allowed it to effectively convert the variable interest rate for the €440 million EUR into a fixed interest rate. This gave the loan an effective fixed interest rate of 1.5%.