Dechert Advises on Georgian Railway’s Landmark Green Bond Issuance

Dechert LLP acted as English and U.S. counsel to JSC Georgian Railway in connection with the issuance of its US$500 million 4.00% Green Bonds due 2028 and the simultaneous tender offer and mandatory redemption of its US$500 million 7.75% Notes due 2022. The Notes are listed on both the Main Market and Sustainable Bond Market of the London Stock Exchange. 

The Dechert team that advised JSC Georgian Railway on this matter comprised London-based partners Patrick Lyons and Jennifer Rees, as well as associate Kerenza Kerslake.

Patrick Lyons and Jennifer Rees commented that “we are honoured to have assisted the Georgian Railway team on this important transaction for the company and for Georgia and to be able to continue to demonstrate our expertise in green and sustainability bonds, as well as liability management transactions”.

Chief Operating Officer of JSC Georgian Railway, Nino Jorbenadze, commented that “the Eurobond transaction was a landmark transaction for the company and we were delighted to be ably assisted by the dedicated and committed capital markets team at Dechert”.

This issuance represents the first green bond issuance by a state-owned enterprise in Georgia, as well as the first green bond by a transport company in the Caucasus region and demonstrates the ongoing commitment of Dechert’s capital markets practice to Central Asia and the Caucasus. Dechert’s role on this issuance also reinforces Dechert’s leading sustainability bonds practice and is another market-leading issuance in a string of market firsts for this practice. The issuance for JSC Georgian Railway follows the team’s involvement in the first Sustainability Bond issuance in Africa; the first U.S. Dollar-denominated Green Bond in Africa and the first-ever green bond for a MENA sovereign; and the team’s work on the first ASEAN sustainability bond by a corporate issuer out of the Philippines. 

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