Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Coldiretti and Filiera Italia signed a memorandum of understanding in Milan aimed at promoting the research and implementation of solutions in support of the Italian agri-food chain, a strategic sector for the national economy and with important development prospects.
The agreement aims to provide companies in the sector with a concrete support for the development of innovation processes and dimensional growth, also enhancing its projection on international markets. The planned interventions will have positive impacts on the entire supply chain and also aim to encourage investments in developing countries.
For CDP, the agreement is part of a broader strategy in support of the sector – envisaged in the Group's business plan – and follows the agreement signed in Venice on 14 June with the Ministry of Agricultural, Food, Forestry and Tourism Policies aimed at providing financial support to the agricultural, agri-food and tourism sectors.
The Group's solutions to support the sector include various tools: financing, guarantees and equity interventions, as in the case of investments in excellence such as Bonifiche Ferraresi and Inalca-Gruppo Cremonini.
With this agreement, Cdo confirms its commitment as a patient and sustainable investor in support of innovation and growth in the agri-food sector: a sector that employs over one million people in Italy – said Fabrizio Palermo, CEO of CDP -. Together with Coldiretti and Filiera Italia we will develop synergies that will allow us to make a further contribution to the competitiveness of the sector and to the diffusion of practices oriented towards sustainability and the protection of Made in Italy".
Ettore Prandini, President of Coldiretti, he explains: “The collaboration of the supply chain also from a financial point of view is essential to support a sector such as the agri-food sector which is worth almost 42 billion euros of exports in the world. The objective of the protocol with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and with Filiera Italia is to strengthen the competitiveness of businesses, the innovation processes and the development dynamics of an increasingly circular and sustainable economy"
Secondo Luigi Scordamaglia, managing director of Filiera Italia: “With this agreement, the supply chain becomes a reference model and central tool also for the financial world. New forms of financing and equity are now becoming accessible to the many SMEs organized in the various supply chains of Filiera Italia thanks to their own values of sustainability, quality and traceability".
The wide range of solutions offered by the Cdp Group will be the subject of potential synergies between the parties:
· subsidized credit: instruments that apply in particular to the Revolving Fund for support to enterprises and investments in research
· credit access: guarantees granted against new loans disbursed by the banking system to companies in the agri-food sector
· working capital support: support for member companies of Filiera Italia also through access to Digital Factoring services
· alternative finance: promotion of "minibond" issues, also through the use of "basket bond" structures
· access to credit for mid/large companies: medium-long term loans to support investments in research, development and innovation, energy efficiency, sustainable development and green economy, growth, also by aggregation, in Italy and abroad;
· equity: support for the growth of member companies through investment funds, promoted and managed by asset management companies owned by CDP
· support for export and internationalisation: financing and guarantees for the development of foreign markets and internationalization activities
· international cooperation: support for cooperation initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable growth in developing countries.
The Protocol also provides for the establishment of a joint working group dedicated, among other things, to the coordination and monitoring of the activities covered by the Protocol.
