Iberdrola raises $1.6 billion in first U.S. green bond sale since 2009

Iberdrola raised $1.6 billion in a U.S. green bond sale announced Oct. 27, its first direct U.S. debt issuance since 2009, to fund transmission and renewable energy assets, ESG Today reported.

The sale came in two $800 million tranches: a three-year bond maturing in November 2029 with a 5.40% coupon, and a seven-year bond at 5.85%.

The seven-year tranche gives allocators a dated pricing reference: 5.85% in dollars from a European utility with proceeds earmarked for grid and renewable assets. Iberdrola said the final cost was comparable to what it could have obtained in the Euromarket. Advisors weighing dollar green paper against euro issuance now have that mark, and Iberdrola expects to invest $5 billion a year in the U.S.

The order book topped $5 billion, more than three times the $1.6 billion sold, and Iberdrola credited the green label for the interest. The company said the return to the U.S. market opens a new financing channel and diversifies its borrowing.

Green bonds already carry a large share of Iberdrola's funding, with 99% of financing signed in 2025 sustainable. Sustainable financing exceeded €66 billion at the end of that year, following a 2021 plan to raise the green and sustainable share of its financing.

Proceeds finance or refinance U.S. electricity network assets, mainly transmission and renewable facilities. That keeps the bond within the standard green framework while funding grid work.