JAB Holdings misses two 2025 SLB targets

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JAB Holdings (JABHOL) has confirmed in its 2025 annual report that two of its Sustainability-Linked Bond targets have been missed. The EUR 4.75% 2032s missed an SBTi target — only 24.8% of portfolio companies by fair value had approved targets against a 2025 80% goal — and the USD 4.5% 2052s missed a board gender diversity target, with 40% women on boards against a 100% target by end 2025. Both bonds now face coupon step-ups of 10bp.

At the time of writing, neither step-up has been reflected in Bloomberg bond data. Given the misses are confirmed, the impacted SLBs would be expected to outperform vanilla securities as the market prices in the higher coupons. Current spreads suggest the bonds are trading broadly in line, though the EUR SLB has shown some outperformance since early March alongside broader market tightening.

This is a further example of the SLB step-up mechanism working as intended — providing investors a hedge against sustainability underperformance. As the market becomes more efficient at pricing these options, ambitious issuers can expect tighter pricing at issuance.