Financial company RMB has partnered with Cape Town retail, commercial and lifestyle precinct V&A Waterfront (V&A), jointly held by Growthpoint and Government Employees Pension Fund as the sustainability coordinator and debt documentation bank for a R1-billion syndicated green loan.

“The V&A has always considered sustainability to be an integral component of our business strategy. Our specific goals are to drive sustainability, opportunity and inclusivity through our work and strategically leverage our ecosystem to provide value to all stakeholders.

“We are proud that we have been able to partner with RMB, as an experienced sustainability coordinator, and other banks, to leverage our existing green assets to raise green loans in our inaugural fund raise in the syndicated loan market, while securing the flexibility to raise sustainability linked loans in the future,” says V&A CFO Antoinette Basson. 

RMB, as sustainability coordinator, says it developed a credible, standardised sustainable financing structure which explicitly addresses each of the four pillars of the Loan Markets Association’s (LMA’s) green loan principles (GLPs).

“We mapped and aligned V&A’s eligible green assets to the GLPs. In addition, we were able to support V&A with a strategy on how to optimise their pool of green assets to futureproof V&A’s ability to raise additional green loans,” says RMB Sustainable Finance Solutions transactor Danielle Frank.

RMB also supported V&A in the execution of the transaction as the debt documentation bank. As this was V&A’s inaugural fundraising initiative in the syndicated loan market, it was noted to be essential to ensure a successful transaction to set V&A on the path for future loan syndications.

“Importantly, the V&A needed to strike a balance between future-proofing the structure of the loan from a sustainability perspective, while considering the flexibility needed to adapt to a rapidly evolving sustainable finance market.

“Through this transaction, the V&A set a benchmark for its first syndicated debt raise and enhanced its already strong sustainability profile,” says RMB Loan Syndications transactor Simone Daws.