On December 5th, Societe Generale announced the first direct registration of digital green bonds on the Ethereum public blockchain through its subsidiary SG-FORGE. The securities tokens issued this time were fully subscribed by top institutional investors Anxin Investment Management and Generali Investments through private placement.
This bond is issued in the form of a 10 million euro senior priority unsecured bond with a term of 3 years. The funds raised will be specifically used to finance or refinance qualified green activities defined by Societe Generale's sustainable and positive impact bond framework. Since its first issuance of positive impact bonds in 2015, Societe Generale has been a regular issuer of positive impact bonds.
This green bond issue also includes two key innovations: one is the 24/7 public access to carbon footprint information related to digital bond infrastructure directly provided in the bond smart contract, enabling issuers and investors to measure the carbon emissions of their securities in real time on financial infrastructure; the other is to provide investors with a new option to settle securities on-chain through SG-FORGE's digital asset EUR CoinVertible to be issued in April 2023, supplementing traditional cash settlement solutions. This transaction once again demonstrates Societe Generale's innovative services in digital tools and its debt capital market capabilities to meet the demand for digital assets with ESG considerations from corporate and institutional clients.