Latham & Watkins Advises on Public Power Corporation’s €650 Million Sustainability-Linked Notes Offering

Public Power Corporation S.A. (PPC), the state-owned leading power company in Greece, listed on the Athens Exchange since 2001, has announced that it has closed its offering of €650 million in aggregate principal amount of 3.875% Sustainability-Linked Senior Notes due 2026. The transaction represents the first high yield bond issuance in Europe linked to a sustainability performance target and the first direct issuance of a corporate bond by a Greek company in international markets.

The landmark offering is linked to PPC’s aim to reduce its CO2 emissions from fuel consumption of thermal power plants by 40% by December 31, 2022, compared to the baseline as of December 31, 2019.

The pool of Initial Purchasers was led by HSBC (as Joint Global Coordinator, Joint Physical Bookrunner and Sustainabiliy-Linked Bond Structuring Advisor), Goldman Sachs (as Joint Global Coordinator and Joint Physical Bookrunner) and Citigroup (as Joint Global Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner) and included several international and Greek banks, namely Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, Alpha Bank, Ambrosia Capital, AXIA Ventures Group, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank. The bond attracted significant attention from local and international investors, including EBRD, which supported the issuance through a €50 million participation.

Latham & Watkins represented the Initial Purchasers in the transaction with a U.S. capital markets team led by partner Jeff Lawlis with associates Giorgio Thomson Ignazzi, Michele Vangelisti and Pierfrancesco S. Benedetti. Advice was also provided on regulatory matters by London partner Nicola Higgs.