Nasdaq Helsinki welcomes Municipality Finance as its First Social Bond Issuer

Milestone marks the expansion of Nasdaq’s growing market for social bonds into Finland.

On 10 September 2020, Nasdaq announced that Municipality Finance Plc has listed its inaugural social bond on the Nasdaq Sustainable Debt Market at Nasdaq Helsinki. The bond notional is EUR 500 million with a maturity of 15 years, explicitly guaranteed by the Municipal Guarantee Board. MuniFin’s issuance is the first social bond listed on Nasdaq Helsinki and the first social bond issued by an SSA (Sovereigns, Supranationals, Agencies) issuer in the Nordic countries.

MuniFin has been an active green bond issuer for four years and is now expanding the offering into social bonds. The proceeds of the social bond issue will finance projects that fall into one of the three categories of social housing, welfare and education and they promote equality, sense of community, wellbeing and vitality of regions and/or municipalities. The first financed projects include schools, hospitals and health care centres and housing for people with special needs.

– We are extremely proud to be in the forefront of Nordic and European sustainable finance. Even if all of our financing is aimed at building and developing the Nordic welfare state, social finance is a flagship product that highlights the wide-ranging effects that municipal and non-profit housing investments have both on individuals and the society as a whole, said Esa Kallio, President and CEO at MuniFin.

– The investor response for our inaugural social bond was overwhelmingly positive. This is a strong testimony that the financial markets want to actively transform societies and make them more sustainable.

– With the help of issuers such as MuniFin, we have in recent years seen Nasdaq develop into an important hub for sustainable investments in Europe with more than 230 bonds listed on Nasdaq´s Sustainable Debt Market. Following many international firsts, such the first green corporate bond by Vasakronan and first city bond issued by Gothenburg, Sweden, we are especially happy to see continued leadership coming from the Nordic region, said Ann-Charlotte Eliasson, Head of European Debt Listings and Sustainable Bonds at Nasdaq.

– We are excited to welcome MuniFin, a Finnish pioneer in sustainable finance, as our first social bond issuer in Finland, said Henrik Husman, President of Nasdaq Helsinki.

– MuniFin was also our first green bond issuer in 2018, and we have now five sustainable bonds listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. We look forward to seeing additional issuers following this trend.

Source: Nasdaq Helsinki