Ramsay Health Care’s approach to sustainability has received a vote of confidence from the banking and capital markets industry.
The company’s landmark A$1.5bn sustainability-linked loan (SLL) has been awarded ‘ESG Loan of the Year’ by the highly-regarded International Financing Review (IFR) Asia magazine.
Group Chief Financial Officer Martyn Roberts welcomed the recognition and said the sustainability-linked loan was designed to drive change across the business.
“Sustainable financing helps us make a meaningful difference through our global healthcare business,” Mr Roberts said.
“The loan is tied to achieving important targets for Ramsay’s three pillars of sustainability: caring for our people, caring for the planet and caring for our communities.”
At the time of completion, Ramsay’s sustainability-linked loan was the first sustainability-linked loan issued by an Australian healthcare company and the largest corporate syndicated SLL in Asia Pacific.
“This wasn’t a cookie-cutter financing arrangement,” Mr Roberts explained.
“We tailored the sustainability targets within the loan to suit Ramsay’s purpose of ‘people caring for people’.
“Our targets include boosting mental health support for employees and implementing more renewable energy projects in our hospitals, as well as reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions.”
The IFR Awards celebrate excellence in the capital markets. The independent judges praised Ramsay’s sustainability-linked financing for its innovation, complexity in structuring and breadth of distribution.
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