Integrated container logistics company A.P. Moller – Maersk announced today the successful completion of its inaugural €500 million green bond offering, with proceeds aimed at financing to fund the construction of its first vessels to be powered by carbon-neutral methanol.

The offering, launched under the company’s recently published Green Finance Framework, was more than 7x oversubscribed, drawing a final order book of €3.7 billion. The transaction priced the 10-year bond at a coupon of 0.75%, the lowest annual interest ever for Maersk.

In August 2021, Maersk announced the order of the 8 ocean-going 16000-container vessels to be built by shipbuilding company Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), equipped with a dual-fuel engine setup, enabling operation on methanol as well as conventional low sulfur fuel.

By replacing older vessels, the new ships are expected to generate annual CO2 emissions savings of around 1 million tonnes per year.

Patrick Jany, CFO at A.P. Moller – Maersk, said:

“Issuing Green Financing Instruments is a further step to integrating sustainability into our financing operations as it is an effective tool for channeling investments to projects with positive environmental impact and thereby contributing to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement. With this green bond, we aim at diversifying our investor base by reaching out to new investors and increasing the transparency of our ESG ambitions and performance even further towards our stakeholders.”