Global Law Office advises China Construction Bank on the successful issuance of US$500m floating rate senior green notes with a tenor of 3 years on the Hong Kong and Macau Stock Exchanges through its Macau branch.

This transaction marks the first green bond issuance under the Common Ground Taxonomy-Climate Change Mitigation (CGT), jointly published by the People’s Bank of China and the European Commission in November 2021. The CGT is a key milestone in providing clarity about the commonality and differences between the EU and China’s green taxonomies. It is expected to play a pivotal role in increasing comparability of sustainable finance taxonomies and definitions of green, sustainable activities globally, according to the International Platform on Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Working Group. The green bonds also represent China Construction Bank’s first bond issuance referencing the US dollar Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).

Global Law Office acted as PRC legal counsel to China Construction Bank Macau Branch on this transaction and provided a full range of legal services, including legal due diligence, reviewing and revising relevant transaction documents and issuance of PRC legal opinions. Our team is led by Xin Zhang and Li Zhu, and the team members include Yalin Li, Xiaosi Li and Faye Song.