Warsaw, Poland, January 24, 2023—To support Poland's decarbonization efforts and reduce its reliance on coal and other thermal energy sources, IFC has invested 435 million zloty ($99 million equivalent) in the 2.67 billion zloty-denominated sustainability-linked bond that was issued by Cyfrowy Polsat S.A. on January 11, 2023. The company is the largest media and telecom group in Poland and is making a significant strategic shift into renewable energy and hydrogen.
By participating in the sustainability-linked bond as an anchor investor, IFC played a key counter-cyclical role, allowing Cyfrowy Polsat to successfully issue the bond – Poland's first corporate sustainability-linked bond and the largest local market private sector issuance to-date – achieved in the face of market turbulence and multiple crises impacting the Central and Eastern European markets.
The bond issuance supports the refinancing of Cyfrowy Polsat's existing corporate bonds and also provides fresh capital to position it for implementation of its Strategy 2023+ which includes expansion into green energy (including planned construction of 1,000 MW of low- and zero-carbon electricity generation) as well as the full value chain of the green hydrogen economy. IFC's investment proceeds are earmarked to support Polsat's development and installation of solar, onshore wind, biomass, and green hydrogen projects in Poland.
This investment underscores IFC's commitment to promote energy transition and decarbonization in Poland, as well as to sustain critical telecommunications infrastructure, and media (embodying IFC's broader strategic ambition to foster development of the creative industries in media and other sectors, such as digital technologies, film, and fashion across developing markets).
"We are very pleased that Polsat Plus Group is once again setting new trends in the Polish capital market. This is the first-ever sustainability-linked bond issue according to ICMA standards," said Katarzyna Ostap-Tomann, Management Board Member responsible for finance in Cyfrowy Polsat and Polkomtel, Polsat Plus Group. "Concurrently, despite the exceptionally challenging economic environment, this is the largest PLN issue in the history of the Polish capital market. For us, this is another important step in the implementation of our Strategy 2023+ providing necessary funding for the development of the new business segment of our Group – Clean Energy."
IFC's investment is expected to help reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions (by an estimated ~2 million CO2 tons equivalent annually) while supporting Poland's climate target of reducing GHG emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. The bond issuance also further deepens, diversifies, and introduces a new instrument to Poland's domestic capital market, highlighting the viability and raising the visibility of sustainable finance instruments in the region.
"This is IFC's largest investment in Poland's infrastructure sector, our first sustainability-linked bond in the technology, media, and telecom space globally, and our first investment in this space in Poland since 2014," said Ary Naïm, IFC's Regional Manager for Central and Southeast Europe. "This high-profile capital markets transaction paves the way and showcases IFC's interest in doing more to support decarbonization, Poland's corporate debt capital markets, and the country's infrastructure, technology, media, and telecom sector – promoting innovation, competition, and green and inclusive growth."
Under the sustainability-linked performance targets, described in Polsat Plus Group`s Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework, Polsat Plus Group has committed to source at least 30 percent of its energy consumption from zero-emission, renewable energy by 2026.
About IFC
IFC—a member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in developing countries. In fiscal year 2022, IFC committed a record $32.8 billion to private companies and financial institutions in developing countries, leveraging the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity as economies grapple with the impacts of global compounding crises. For more information, visit www.ifc.org, www.ifc.org/TMT.
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About Polsat Plus Group
A leading media and telecommunications group in Poland, Polsat Plus Group offers a full range of services in the following areas: pay digital TV (via Polsat Box, the biggest pay TV operator in Poland, offering services in satellite, IPTV, OTT and DVB-T technologies; streaming platform Polsat Box Go; Netia offering TV channels in IPTV technology), mobile telecommunication services and mobile broadband Internet, including 5G technology (via Polkomtel, one of the leading telecommunications operators in the country), fixed-line broadband Internet, including fiber optic (via Netia and Polkomtel), TV production and broadcasting (via Telewizja Polsat – the leading commercial TV broadcaster on the Polish market) and online media (via the portal Interia.pl, one of the three largest horizontal portals in Poland, as well as a number of thematic portals). The group also offers wholesale services to other operators. For more information, visit https://grupapolsatplus.pl/en.
