THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Monday (Aug 1) that it will be issuing Singapore’s inaugural sovereign green bond, which is known as Green Singapore Government Securities (Infrastructure) or Green SGS (Infra).

The Singapore dollar denominated bond – which will be launched via a book-building process within the week – will have a tenor of either 30 or 50 years and a minimum issuance size of about S$1.5 billion.

The exact tenor and issuance size will be determined based on prevailing market conditions, MAS said. Both institutional and individual investors can apply to purchase the inaugural Green SGS (Infra).

Proceeds from the issuance will be used to finance expenditures in support of the Singapore Green Plan 2030, including the Jurong Region Line and the Cross Island Line, MAS said.

MAS noted that the planned issuance marks the introduction of syndication as a new method for issuing Singapore Government Securities (SGS), complementing the regular schedule of SGS auctions.

Syndication involves the appointment of a group of banks – known as bookrunners – to jointly market and distribute a bond, MAS said. It noted that this enhances the government’s ability to issue across varied market conditions, as the issuance parameters such as tenor and size are determined on the date the SGS bond is priced.

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Friday, 12.30 pm

ESG Insights

An exclusive weekly report on the latest environmental, social and governance issues.

Sign Up

The Green SGS (Infra) will be issued under the Singapore Green Bond framework. It is part of the pipeline of up to S$35 billion of sovereign and public sector green bonds that the government and its statutory boards will issue by 2030.