Marui Group Inc. has decided to issue digital bonds for Epos Card members, co-created with UPDATER Inc.

Marui Group’s “Support Investment” is a new mechanism that aims to combine the desire to contribute to society by “supporting someone’s future” with asset building by providing “higher interest income than deposits”. The new system aims to combine the desire to contribute to society by “supporting someone’s future” with asset building through “higher interest income than deposits”.

In the past three issues, we have received many more applications than we initially planned, and we have received a great deal of support. In order to encourage even more people to participate in the “supportive investment” initiative, we have decided to issue a fourth issue of green bonds to raise funds for the acquisition of renewable energy power plants. The funds raised by the bonds will be used to solve social issues such as the reduction of CO

Everyone can invest a small amount in building renewable energy power plants and contribute to CO₂ reduction and climate change measures, while also earning a return. They can also use the electricity from the renewable energy power plant they have invested in themselves at home and elsewhere.

This groundbreaking scheme, which is unique in the world, has finally been realised thanks to the Marui Group’s properties and culture of innovation. The scheme could provide an opportunity for Japan’s more than 2,000 trillion yen of personal financial assets to go towards climate change action.

A green finance framework has been developed for the green bond issue. The company has obtained a second opinion from Rating and Investment Information, Inc (R&I), a third-party evaluation agency, to the effect that it complies with the International Capital Markets Association’s (ICMA) Green Bond Principles 2021, among others. Ltd. has been selected as the structuring agent to support the Green Bond issuance by providing advice on the formulation of this framework and the acquisition of the third-party evaluation.

≪’Outline of the digital bond issue’
Issue amount: approximately JPY 150 million
Issue date: 13 May 2024 (Monday)
Interest rate (before tax): 1% per annum (0.3% in cash and 0.7% in epos points)
Offering : Self-subscription by Marui Group
Sales target: Epos Card members only
Other: Restrictions on transfers apply.
Financial advisor is Nomura Securities Co.