SBUX Starbucks Corporation

   By Stephen Nakrosis 
 

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) on Monday said it issued its third, and largest, sustainability bond, which will help "support the company's ethical coffee sourcing and its Greener Retail initiative."

The $1 billion, 30-year sustainability bond is part of a larger bond offering of $2 billion, the Seattle-based company said.

Starbucks said it partnered responsAbility, a lending organization, on a $20 million equity investment to provide financing in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The organization will loan money to coffee producers to help replace old, less productive trees with new trees, buy equipment and improve crop quality and productivity.

Starbucks said its Greener Retail program includes the Greener Stores initiative, under which the company intends to design, build and operate 10,000 Greener Stores globally by 2025.

The Sustainability Bond "attracted significant investor interest and was oversubscribed," said Patrick Grismer, chief financial officer of Starbucks.

He added "By issuing a Sustainability Bond, we're providing investors an opportunity to participate in our sustainability efforts, and our hope is that this inspires others to pursue more sustainability-related investing opportunities."

--Write to Stephen Nakrosis at stephen.nakrosis@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 13, 2019 13:04 ET (17:04 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.