Agreement between Prada and Unicredit. Piazza Gae Aulenti will grant the Milanese fashion house a 90 million euro loan linked to sustainability.
Going into details, at the center of the agreement there is a sustainability linked loan, a loan characterized by the application of a mechanism which provides for the reduction of the interest rate upon the achievement of quantitative targets in terms of environmental sustainability. The results achieved will be certified annually by an independent third party.
The 90 million loan will be five years it will be linked to the achievement of the following objectives: regeneration and reconversion of production waste and increase in the share of self-produced energy. Prada has in fact launched an investment plan which envisages the creation of photovoltaic systems in the group's offices, in order to ensure an increasing production of KWh/year in the period 2021-2025. "A significant part of these interventions will be concentrated on the production and logistics sites of Levanella in Tuscany, with the aim of making the complex of buildings concerned in the area practically self-sufficient from an energy point of view", reads the note.
Alessandra Cozzani, CFO of Prada underlined: “The values of sustainability are now universally recognized and shared also by the world of finance. This constitutes an important stimulus for businesses to achieve ever more ambitious goals towards a sustainable economy. We are proud to be among the first in the luxury sector to have embarked on this path and to be considered today a point of reference in the field".
Alfredo Maria De Falco, Unicredit deputy head of CIB and head of CIB Italy commented: “Sustainability is increasingly becoming a competitive factor for companies, as it increasingly guides the choices of consumers and investors. UniCredit is also a leading bank in Europe in financing solutions linked to ESG objectives, which can effectively support the transformation of corporate business models. We are therefore particularly pleased to support a Made in Italy excellence such as Prada on its path towards a sustainable economy'”.
