Citi Announces Inaugural $2.5 Billion Affordable Housing Bond Issuance and Largest-Ever Social Bond - Seite 2

The transaction builds on a key objective of Citi’s Action for Racial Equity, a far-reaching effort to provide more than $1 billion in strategic value for communities of color to help close the racial wealth gap. Through Action for Racial Equity, Citi has pledged an additional $550 million to support homeownership for people of color and develop affordable housing with minority developers over the next three years.

“Our Social Bond Framework for Affordable Housing and accompanying inaugural offering strengthens our partnerships with clients around the world and responds to increasing investor interest in social bonds and broader ESG initiatives,” said Michael Verdeschi, Treasurer of Citi.

In conjunction with the bond offering, Citi unveiled a new Social Bond Framework for Affordable Housing to detail how projects and assets will be selected. Citi will publish an Affordable Housing Bond report detailing use of funds and allocation. Sustainalytics has reviewed Citi’s Social Bond Framework for Affordable Housing and confirmed in their Second Party Opinion alignment with the four pillars of the ICMA Social Bond Principles 2020.

“As a responsible investor, APG has encouraged growth in the social bond market and is pleased to see issuers facilitating access to affordable housing in the United States. These social bonds offer an opportunity for attractive risk-adjusted returns, while contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals by financing safe, high-quality homes for historically underserved communities and families across the country,” said Scott Cavanagh, Senior Credit Analyst at APG Asset Management US, Inc.

This transaction is consistent with Citi’s pledge to align community engagement with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Affordable Housing Bonds issued under this Framework advance SDG 11.1 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), ensuring universal access to adequate, safe and affordable housing by 2030.

“The pressure on families and individuals to be able to make rent and mortgage payments has increased, with the pandemic exacerbating that stress,” said Richard Gerwitz, Co-Head of Citi Community Capital. “This unique offering will provide funding to help confront the challenges we face as a country in providing safe, affordable housing options for the communities where we work and live.”

Citi

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.