Protective Life Corporation, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Dai-ichi Life Holdings, and its principal subsidiary, Protective Life Insurance, closed a five-year, $1.5 billion sustainability-linked revolving credit facility, which replaces its current $1 billion revolving credit facility.
“At Protective, we are doing our part to provide a more sustainable future by way of an ethical and socially responsible solution for our business and the workforce,” Deep Banerjee, senior vice president and treasurer at Protective, said. “As one of the early adopters of a sustainability-linked revolver in the U.S. insurance space, we are further highlighting our commitment to our sustainability goals by linking the borrowing cost of our credit facility directly to social diversity and inclusion measures.”
As part of this sustainability-linked credit facility, Protective has included two key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure the percentage of women and racially diverse employees amongst Protective’s employee base. Protective’s performance against these established KPIs will determine potential annual pricing adjustments to the facility.
“This furthers Protective’s long-standing focus on diversity, equity and inclusion,” Wendy Evesque, executive vice president and chief human resources officer at Protective, said. “Additionally, it demonstrates our critical commitment to grow and develop our people, attract diverse talent and support strong, diverse communities.”
This credit facility will also support Protective’s transition from the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR, to the preferred LIBOR replacement rate of secured overnight financing rate, or SOFR.
The credit facility is offered through a consortium of 24 financial institutions, with BNP Paribas and PNC Capital Markets serving as co-sustainability structuring agents and Regions Bank serving as administrative agent. The joint lead arrangers on the facility are Mizuho Bank, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, MUFG Bank, PNC Capital Markets, Regions Capital Markets, Sumitomo Mitsui Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Securities. Maynard, Cooper & Gayle acted as legal counsel to Protective.
