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(Bloomberg) -- Some companies that once saw a benefit in adding ESG claims to their borrowing are now backing away.
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Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Equinor ASA and ArcelorMittal SA have all dropped dropped ESG (environmental, social, governance) labels from revolving credit facilities this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg that has been confirmed by the companies.
Norway’s biggest oil and gas company rolled over a $5 billion sustainability-linked loan into a regular RCF in November, a spokesperson told Bloomberg. Mercedes did the same for an €11 billion loan ($11.5 billion) in June, a spokesperson for the company said. Both companies said they remain committed to their sustainability goals without giving detailed explanations for their decisions to move away from SLLs.
ArcelorMittal SA also dropped ESG targets when it refinanced its $5.5 billion RCF in May, with the previous targets outdated, a spokesperson for the company said. Still, the company and banks included a “rendez-vous clause” for within a year to potentially include new targets, though it is not obliged to do so.
Sustainability-linked loans are supposed to create incentives for corporate borrowers to reach ESG goals, such as cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Typically, a borrower is rewarded with lower interest costs if it reaches a stated target. But as the $1.8 trillion SLL market moves into its eighth year, bankers providing such loans are scrutinizing them more, looking to set harder targets for the borrowers to meet.
“The bank industry is more educated and more challenging regarding the level of expectations for key performance indicators and targets for the corporates,” said Stephane Lavoix, global head of corporate origination at Credit Agricole SA’s corporate and investment banking unit. “That creates some headwinds for corporates that wanted to integrate that instrument.”
What’s more, there’s “the concern around green-washing,” he said. “So corporates are balancing between the benefit of implementing such financing and the potential reputational risk there.”
Companies contemplating SLLs also face a tougher regulatory environment. The European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, under which the first sets of reports are due early next year, will make it much easier for lenders and investors to tell whether previous corporate ESG claims are backed up by real data.
Bankers that structure SLLs and do not wish to be identified discussing confidential transactions said that corporates, which just a few years ago rushed to add sustainability KPIs to their loans, are reassessing the benefits of linking their debt with environmental goals as those loans come due. The reputational advantages they once perceived are less clear in a more hostile environment towards ESG strategies, and the better pricing they once enjoyed for SLLs has evaporated, the bankers said.