NAB has announced it has priced the world’s first gender equality bond. $500 million March 2022 bonds were issued at Swap +95bps to a selection of Australian and offshore investors. The new bonds are rated in the same manner as other senior unsecured bonds issued by NAB; they have a AA- (negative outlook) from S&P Global Ratings and a Aa2 (negative outlook) from Moody’s Investor Services. For all intents and purposes they are standard vanilla bonds, the only difference is the restriction on how the proceeds of the bond sale are used.
The proceeds will be used to finance or refinance organisations who are cited by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency as “employers of choice” for gender equality and whose primary activities avoid a range of proscribed activities such as gambling, tobacco products, the transport of live cattle or whaling. The organisations which have initially qualified are Lend Lease, Mirvac, Stockland, Monash University, Australian Catholic University, PwC, KPMG Australia, King & Wood Mallesons (Australia), Clayton Utz, Gilbert + Tobin, Minter Ellison, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Ashurst Australia and Henry Davis York.