KSA’s sovereign wealth fund is moving ahead with its first green bond offering: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has hired banks to coordinate its maiden issuance of multi-tranche, USD-denominated green bonds, according to reports out of Riyadh yesterday. Advisers on the bond sale have already started making calls to investors.

What we know of the planned issuance: The green bonds will be issued in five-year and ten-year tranches, and could potentially issue tranches of longer tenors, depending on market conditions, Reuters noted. The issuer will be GACI First Investment Company — a PIF-owned special purpose vehicle set up in the Cayman Islands — and guaranteed by PIF.

What we don’t know: How big is the sale? Reuters noted earlier this month that PIF was planning an offering in the USD bns.

Advisers: BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are joint global coordinators and bookrunners, while HSBC, Credit Agricole, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Mizuho, SMBC Nikko, SNB Capital, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered are also bookrunners, Reuters and Bloomberg note.

Where’s the money going? PIF “will use proceeds from the bond sale to finance, refinance or invest in one or more green projects like renewable energy,” Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing information given in the bond prospectus.

PIF released a green financing framework (pdf) back in February, saying that the projects it plans to fund with the proceeds from the issuance, include renewable energy projects, green building initiatives, and clean transport projects. PIF is also working with BlackRock on developing an ESG framework, according to Bloomberg.

PIF “has been monitoring the market for months to find ‘a window’ in which to pull the trigger on the issuance,” Reuters reported earlier this month.

It follows ADCB’s first-ever issuance of USD 500 mn in early September: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) raised USD 500 mn in its maiden green bond issuance, we reported earlier this month. The issuance was 3.8x oversubscribed, drawing over USD 1.9 bn in orders from a mix of regional and international investors, with “a very strong following from European accounts.”