United Overseas Bank (UOB), DBS Bank and Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) have teamed up to extend an S$945 million green loan to Allianz Real Estate and Hong Kong private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners.
The syndicated loan announced by the three banks will be used to finance Allianz's and Gaw's S$1.575 billion joint acquisition of Duo Tower and Duo Galleria from M+S, a national joint venture between Malaysia and Singapore.
Duo Tower is an office block with 570,000 square feet (sq ft) of prime Grade A commercial space whereas Duo Galleria is a mall with 56,000 sq ft of retail space. They form part of an iconic mixed-use project in Singapore's Ophir-Rochor precinct.
Real Estate Is Leading
«The real estate sector has been leading the charge in the demand for green financing, with more property owners, managers and financial sponsors upholding sustainability standards as part of their climate action efforts,» said Lim Lay Wah, UOB's global head of financial institutions group in a media statement on Monday.
UOB, DBS and StanChart were the green loan advisers, joint mandated lead arrangers, underwriters and bookrunners to Ophir-Rochor Commercial (ORC), the joint venture between Allianz and Gaw. UOB also acted as the facility and security agent to the syndicated green loan.
A Hub For Green Issuances
Singapore is fast becoming a hub for green and sustainable loan issuances, with more than $6 billion of loan issuances between 2018 and October 2019, according to Patrick Lee, chief executive of StanChart Singapore.
Echoing Lee's observations, Chew Chong Lim, managing director and global head of real estate, institutional banking group at DBS, said the bank is encouraged by the «steady traction in green and sustainability-linked loans from the real estate industry».
This green loan was structured according to ORC's green loan framework, which is aligned with the Green Loan Principles issued by the Loan Market Association in 2018.
