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Scope Ratings has affirmed AutoWallis’s credit rating: get ready for the HUF 6 billion green bond issue

2021.07.19.

Now that Scope Ratings has affirmed the company’s B+ issuer rating, AutoWallis can issue 6 billion forints’ worth of green bonds as part of the Funding for Growth Scheme of the National Bank of Hungary. The automotive company of the Budapest Stock Exchange plans to hold the private issue on July 23 and to use the received amount in line with the principles of the previously approved Green Finance Framework.

After its first credit rating provided in 2019, Scope Ratings GmbH has reviewed the classification of AutoWallis Plc., based on which it again gave both the company and the bonds issued by it B+ ratings, changing the outlook from positive to stable due to the temporarily increased risk of the new bond issue planned by AutoWallis in an amount of HUF 6 billion. This means AutoWallis continues to meet the conditions of the Growth Credit Programme (NKP) launched by the National Bank of Hungary. As investment service provider, Magyar Takarékszövetkezeti Bank is preparing and organizing the private green bond issue within the NKP framework. The company will use the amount received from the bonds, issued with 10-year terms and a fixed interest rate of 3.0 percent, to finance its future growth targets, in line with the commitments made in the recently approved Green Finance Framework. AutoWallis is the first company listed in the Premium Category of the Budapest Stock Exchange to develop such a framework, which has enabled the company to both sell green bonds and receive green credit products. Although the Group has already been committed to sustainable operations, it has made additional environmental protection commitments under the framework: for example, it is developing e-mobility, including increasing the number of charging stations as well as the number of electric vehicles in its own fleet and its fleet of rental cars. AutoWallis is also studying the possibilities of obtaining ESG certification, which would allow those investment funds to purchase the company’s shares that prefer the shares of companies committed to sustainability. The company’s first NKP bond auction, with a term of 10 years and a face value of HUF 3 billion, was closed last April with oversubscription: the securities are available for trading on the stock exchange’s XBond market.