SSEN TRANSMISSION ISSUES NEW £500m GREEN BOND

SSE PLC

09 January 2024

 

SSE PLC

SSEN TRANSMISSION ISSUES NEW £500m GREEN BOND

SSEN Transmission, the 75%-owned subsidiary of SSE plc, has successfully issued a £500m 20-year green bond maturing 15 January 2044 at a fixed coupon of 5.5 per cent., with an all-in funding cost of 5.575 per cent.

Today's issuance is SSE's seventh green bond in eight years and reaffirms its status as the largest UK corporate issuer of green bonds. This brings the total outstanding green bonds issued by SSE and subsidiaries to £3.7bn, of which £1.3bn has been issued directly by SSEN Transmission. 

The proceeds from today's green bond will specifically help finance and/or refinance critical national infrastructure projects within SSEN Transmission, with the business benefiting from strong visibility over future growth through Ofgem's Large Onshore Transmission Investments (LOTI) re-opener and the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework.

The visibility from LOTI and ASTI, alongside greater certainty over supply chain costs, led to SSE updating its investment programme, or Net Zero Acceleration Programme Plus (NZAP Plus), in November 2023. SSE now expects to invest £20.5bn across the five years to 2026/27, with SSEN Transmission expected to invest around £7.5bn net (around £10bn gross) in that period.

Barry O'Regan, SSE's Chief Financial Officer, said:

"SSE is investing in high-quality assets right across the group and our Transmission business has a significant pipeline of nationally important investments which will make a significant impact as Scotland and the UK seek to meet renewables deployment and climate targets. These projects are essential to the clean energy transition and this bond therefore offers an attractive proposition to investors looking to channel finance into green infrastructure.

"Today's new green bond has been extremely well received and was 3.5 times oversubscribed. This new issuance is consistent with our commitment to maintaining a strong balance sheet through financial discipline and will help us deliver our increased £20.5bn investment under our NZAP Plus."

Notes

SSE's latest published Green Bond Report can be found at https://www.sse.com/greenbond, along with an Assurance Report from PwC and DNV's Opinion Report on this new green bond issuance.

SHET plc, trading name SSEN Transmission, are responsible for the electricity transmission network in the north of Scotland, maintaining and investing in the high voltage 132kV, 220kV, 275kV and 400kV electricity transmission network. More information on this business can be found on our website ssen-transmission.co.uk .  

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