Unicredit and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (Cdp) exceed the 100 million milestone for the Basketball Bond Esg. The objective was achieved thanks to the second tranche of issues for 53,5 million euros in favor of five Italian SMEs and Mid-Caps. “This is the first program of minibonds brought to the market with the aim of supporting the investments of companies active in strategic sectors of the Italian economy by financing their sustainable development plans”, explains a note.
After the first tranche of 48 million euros finalized at the end of 2022 in favor of eight companies located throughout the country, thanks to this new issue the Unicredit-Cdp-branded bond comes to support a total of 13 companies by mobilizing 101,5 million in favor of the sustainability. A third tranche of issues is expected by the end of 2023.
Basket Bond Esg of Unicredit and Cdp: the second tranche
The protagonist companies of the second tranche are: the Como area Sacco Srl, operating in the biotech sector, which issued a 17,5 million mini-bond; the Cuneo area Ledoga Srl, specialized in the extraction of vegetable tannins for tanning, oenological and food use (15 million); from Forlì CDS Holding Spa, active in the tourism sector (10 million); the Milanese Samso Spa, active in the energy efficiency sector (8 million) and Perugia Eagleprojects Spa, operating mainly in the telecommunications network design service (3 million).
The five client companies of the bank in Piazza Gae Aulenti that participated in the second tranche have issued six-year minibonds. The subscription of the minibonds took place through a vehicle company - Special Purpose Vehicle (Spv) - which in turn issued bonds subscribed, in equal shares, by Unicredit and Cdp as institutional investors.
With the issues of the minibonds, the companies undertake to improve their sustainability scoring assigned by an external company, Cerved Rating Agency, with monitoring starting from the third year after the issue. Unicredit acted as arranger and sustainability coordinator, Master Gardant Spa as servicer, corporate servicer and calculation agent, while Loan Agency Services Srl as monitoring agent, paying agent and representative of the noteholders. The investors were assisted by Legance Avvocati Associati.
The projects of the five companies
In more detail, the projects of the companies:
- Sacco Srl: based in Cadorago (Como), biotech pole of international excellence that supplies ingredients to the food, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries in Italy and around the world. The minibond is aimed at supporting investments for the expansion of the lines dedicated to the production of frozen microorganisms in the Cadorago plant and in the Vertemate plant (Como) for the development of a new business unit.
- Ledoga Srl: Cuneo company active since 1868 in the extraction of natural tannins obtained from chestnut wood. The company is part of the Silvateam group, which has been producing natural tannins all over the world for 170 years, also using quebracho wood in Argentina and tare in Peru and today it is the world leader in this sector. The minibond is aimed at increasing the production capacity of chestnut tannins in the San Michele di Mondovì plant through an investment with a strong ESG matrix, demonstrated both by the reuse of waste with a circular logic to produce pellets, and by the integration of a photovoltaic system serving the entire production site.
- CDS Holding Spa: one of the main national operators in the outdoor tourism sector. The minibond is aimed at the growth of the group, based in Forlì, in compliance with ESG criteria.
- Samso Spa: is an Energy Service Company (ESCo.) certified in accordance with ISO 9001, 14001, 45001, UNI 11352, SA8000 standards, specialized in the design, implementation, financing of energy efficiency interventions and in the installation of zero-charging points emissions for sustainable mobility; operates throughout the national territory where it is present with three offices in Milan, Padua, Salerno. The minibond is aimed at infrastructural investments for new electricity production plants, electric recharging stations and photovoltaic production plants within the Energy Communities.
- Eagleprojects Spa: Perugia-based company mainly active in network design and project management for telecommunications and in the energy and utility sector at an international level. The minibond is aimed at supporting new investment projects that involve the development of computer vision and deep learning systems, automation of production processes related to digitization and monitoring of the territory and infrastructures and the development of software and IoT platforms that will find application in the management active in renewable energy systems and water infrastructure.
The comments of Unicredit and Cdp
“With this new tranche of the market's first ESG Basket Bond,” he said Remo Taricani, deputy head of Unicredit Italia – Unicredit confirms its leadership in the mini-bond market, reaching an important milestone that highlights our commitment to mobilize important resources to support the investments of Italian SMEs and at the same time encourage the diversification of funding sources. With this initiative, which sees us acting in synergy with CDP, we wanted to promote in particular the sustainable transition of smaller Italian companies, which is increasingly a competitive factor for success for growth".
Massimo DiCarlo, deputy general manager and business director of Cdp, declared: “Cdp's path to support the growth of Italian companies continues and is strengthened, also using alternative finance instruments aimed at companies active in the various strategic sectors of the Italian economy. This transaction, completed alongside Unicredit, confirms Cassa Depositi e Prestiti's desire to bring an ever-increasing number of medium and small-sized companies closer to the capital market, also through a more intense use of financial innovation”.
