ABN AMRO and Société Générale acted as coordinators on a €1 billion ($1.2 billion) sustainability-linked revolving credit facility for Ahold Delhaize, a Netherlands-based retail company.
Through this facility, Ahold Delhaize aims to achieve the following:
- Food waste reduction as measured by percentage reduction in tons of food waste per million Euro food sales and supporting the UN SDG 12
- Carbon emission reduction as measured by percentage reduction of Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2-equivalent emissions and aligned with Ahold Delhaize SBTi-certified 2030 targets
- Promotion of healthier eating as measured by percentage of own-brand food sales from healthy products.
Ahold Delhaize will report on the progress on these objectives in the company’s annual report.
“This is an important facility for Ahold Delhaize that ensures we maintain our financial flexibility. After having issued the first euro-denominated sustainability bond in the retail industry in June 2019, we believe that linking this facility with our significant healthy and sustainable ambition will deliver a positive outcome for all stakeholders,” Natalie Knight, CFO at Ahold, said.
The new facility has a maturity of three years with two one-year extension options and also includes a mechanism to allow the company to anticipate the discontinuation of the U.S. dollar interbank benchmark interest rate.
A syndicate of 16 relationship banks participated in the facility.