Herdez Group became the first company in the food industry in Mexico to place a bond linked to sustainability. Through the broadcast, which featured BBVA Mexico as placement broker, it raised 3,000 million pesos divided into two series.
One of them, for 1,500 million pesos, was placed for a term of 10 years and at a fixed rate of 9.78 percent. Another for the same amount but with a term of 4.5 years, offered a floating rate of TIIE 28 plus 31 base points, registering an oversubscription of 3.9 times with respect to the amount placed.
“The resources from this issue will be used to refinance short- and long-term liabilities, thus extending the average life of the debt from 4.6 to 6.5 years,” the company said in a statement.
With this public offering, the company that sells products under brands such as Nestle, Herdez, McCormick, nutriaamong others, committed to reducing water consumption per ton produced by 25% by 2030, considering 100% of its plants and distribution centers in Mexico.
Since 2018, the Company has aligned its sustainability strategy with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include SDG 6 “Clean water and sanitation” and SDG 12 “Responsible production and consumption”.
The issue obtained the “AA(mex)” rating from Fitch Ratings and “mxAA” by Standard and Poor’s.
Meanwhile, its sustainable performance objectives were rated “robust level” by Moody’s ESG Solutions, which is the highest rating granted by the rating agency; there is still no global standard for this type of indicator.
In 2021, Herdez Group invested 3.5% of its net income in environmental projects, prioritizing wastewater treatment systems, post-industrial waste management, and a product container collection program to promote recycling. In addition, it recycled 86.6% of the waste generated from its operation. 69.2% of its energy consumption came from clean sources and reduced the intensity of its greenhouse gas emissions by 15.9% compared to 2021.
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