Developer Hoi Hup Realty has secured a $332.5 million green loan to partially finance its $475 million purchase of Andaz hotel.

It is the group's first green loan and the first for South-east Asia's hospitality industry, said a joint statement by OCBC Bank and Hoi Hup yesterday.

Andaz Singapore is Hoi Hup Realty's latest BCA Green Mark-certified property. The five-star hotel received the BCA Green Mark (Hotel) Goldplus Award in 2013 for having environment-friendly features that yield energy and water savings.

Hoi Hup Realty chairman Wong Swee Chun said the loan shows the group's commitment to sustainability in the built environment.

Mr Linus Goh, head of global commercial banking at OCBC Bank, said: "This transaction also highlights the urgency in the shift towards green finance in our region."

Green finance involves making sure services such as borrowing and lending, as well as investing, deliver both returns and environmentally positive outcomes, including dealing with climate change.

OCBC, which aims to build a sustainable finance portfolio of $10 billion by 2022, said this deal is a "momentum builder".

Last month, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it would develop grant schemes to support the growth of green and sustainability-linked loans, among other initiatives.

THE BUSINESS TIMES