Green Bond exceeded expectations with oversubscribed book printing €300m instead of €200m

London--Dentons is pleased to have advised Lietuvos Energija, UAB, the energy company that is 100 per cent owned by the government of Lithuania, on its debut Reg S €300 million green bond issue. This is the first-ever international corporate green bond to be issued from central and eastern Europe (CEE). The deal was given the highest green designation by the Center for International Climate Research (Cicero), which gave the external opinion on the deal's green credentials.

Lietuvos Energija was initially expected to bring a EU200 million green bond to market, however, the deal defied expectations with an oversubscribed book which enabled the issuer to print a €300 million bond from a €1.4 billion book.

The bonds were issued under Lietuvos Enegija's €1 billion Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) Programme, and Dentons also advised the company on the establishment of the EMTN Programme.

Dentons' London-based capital markets partner Nick Hayday, who led on the transaction, said, "We are delighted to have worked with Lietuvos Energija and the underwriters, BNP Paribas and SEB, on this groundbreaking green bond, which is the first of its kind to be issued from the CEE. We are especially pleased to see the deal exceed market expectations and be involved on a transaction with the lowest-ever spread for a ten-year transaction from a CEE corporate borrower."

As the largest fully integrated energy business in Lithuania, Lietuvos Energija has ambitious plans to move into green energy. This inaugural green bond and the option to issue more bonds under the EMTN programme should enable the company to diversify its creditors and lengthen the average maturity of its debt. Lietuvos Energija will use part of the EU300 million in green financing it has raised through the green bond to refinance its purchase of several wind farms, finance new eco-generation projects, and improve energy efficiency across Lithuania.

Dr. Dalius Misiunas, the Chairman of the Board and CEO at Lietuvos Energija, said, "At the moment, only approximately 30 per cent of the energy used in Lithuania is produced there. We see enormous opportunities to invest in green power development and this successful green bond issue, as well as the EMTN Programme establishment, will enable us to raise the necessary funds to do so."

In addition to Nick Hayday, associate Nicholas Yao advised on the transaction, along with partner David Cohen, head of Dentons' Debt Capital Markets team in London. Sorainen, led by Augustas Klezys and Dalia Augaite, acted as Lithuanian law advisers to the company.

Dentons partner David Cohen, said, "We have made significant investments in our international capital markets offering and this high profile transaction is another great success for the team. This deal underlines our recent successes acting for underwriters on bond issues by RELX, Finnvera and the Dominican Republic and acting for issuers on deals for Hurricane Energy, Oman Electricity Transmission Company and mBank."