Press release -
Kommuninvest improves its ESG rating
Kommuninvest has improved its sustainability rating from ISS-oekom. In the latest evaluation, in March 2019, Kommuninvest i Sverige AB received an ESG rating of B-, up by two notches. Kommuninvest now belongs to the group of financial institutions with the highest corporate rating at ISS-oekom.
Christian Ragnartz, Head of Debt Management at Kommuninvest, comments:
- Investors are placing more stringent demands on issuers to demonstrate solid and thoughtful sustainability work, and the requirements are gradually increasing. Kommuninvest strives to be at the forefront when it comes to environmental, social and governance issues, and we are pleased to have now received an ESG rating that mirrors the best-performing financial institutions.However, we aim to take further steps on these issues.
Kommuninvest's role is to finance local government investments, with an emphasis on investments in new housing, expanded infrastructure, hospitals and schools. With a loan portfolio exceeding SEK 350 billion, Kommuninvest is the largest lender to Sweden’s municipalities and regions. Kommuninvest is also Sweden's largest issuer of green bonds, funding instruments where proceeds are earmarked for environmental and climate-related investments.
ISS-oekom's rating scale ranges from D- to A +. Among the 78 financial institutions that have been evaluated, less than ten percent have received a grade of B-. No institute has obtained a higher level than B-.
Contact information
Christian Ragnartz, Head of Debt Management, tel: +46 10 470 87 06, christian.ragnartz@kommuninvest.se
Björn Bergstrand, Head of Sustainability/Head of Media Relations, tel: +46 70 886 94 76, email: bjorn.bergstrand@kommuninvest.se
Topics
Kommuninvest is a municipal cooperation for efficient and sustainable financing of housing, infrastructure, schools, hospitals etc. Together, we get better loan terms than each one individually. Since its inception in 1986, the Kommuninvest collaboration has helped lower the local government sector’s borrowing costs by many billion kronor. Currently, 289 municipalities and county councils/regions are members of this voluntary cooperation, out of a total of 310 Swedish local governments. With total assets of exceeding SEK 400 billion (USD ~43 billion), Kommuninvest is the largest lender to the Swedish local government sector. The head office is located in Örebro.
