Unicredit queen of minibonds. The bank in Piazza Gae Aulenti has reached altitude 100 minibonds structured to support Italian SMEs (31 issues in 2021 alone), with a 67% increase in just one year. The latest issue in chronological order concerned the Piedmontese company dott. Gallina Srl, which issued a 14 million euro sustainable minibond over 7 years, fully subscribed by UniCredit, with the aim of financing the transformation of some industrial spaces now abandoned into its new operational and management headquarters.
On a general level, in terms of volumes, Unicredit is close to the threshold of 690 million euro, having a growth of 51% in one year, while in terms of sustainability, the bank points out that 30% of the emissions made this year incorporated ESG objectives.
Going into detail, the resources mobilized so far to support the real Italian economy are the result of:
- 66 issues totally or partially subscribed by the bank, equal to over 439 million in terms of volumes disbursed,
- 27 issues as part of the various Basket Bonds, for a total value of over 129 million euro
- 7 minibonds distributed to institutional investors for 121 million euro.
From a sectoral point of view, the operations concerned above all the Food & Beverage and Telecom & IT sectors, while from a geographical point of view “the geographical location of issuers reflects the greater concentration of productive activities in the northern regions, but it is by far the Southern Region of the bank that records the highest numbers, thanks also to the 21 Apulian companies that have so far participated in the Basket Bond Puglia”, underlines Unicredit.
“We are particularly satisfied with the milestone of 100 companies supported – he said Niccolò Ubertalli, head of Unicredit Italia – which we consider, however, an intermediate stage. With the minibond tool, we mobilize important resources in favor of Italian SMEs to support their growth projects. In this phase of restart, these are extremely important funds, which add to our traditional activity of supporting the real economy. UniCredit confirms itself as the leading bank in Italy in facilitating SMEs' access to the capital market, encouraging the diversification of funding sources and facilitating a greater financial maturity of our entrepreneurial system towards alternative forms of investment financing."
The milestone of 100 issues was also made possible thanks to the contribution of Basket Bonds, mini-bond portfolio transactions that allow for an increase in the interest of institutional investors for small denominations and for small and medium-sized enterprises: of the 27 mini-bonds issued in scope of the Basket Bonds in which Unicredit is arranger, 21 concern the Basket Bond Puglia, with guarantee of Puglia region, and 6 the Filiera Basket Bond, an initiative promoted with CDP for the development of the main supply chains of the Italian economy.
