Two robust Italian financial institutions are betting on wine. Thus they choose, in an original way, to help Made in Italy. With an eye to sustainability and the post-Covid recovery, of course, because the capital market must look ahead. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and UniCredit have launched the first 200 million euro Basket Bond. A huge figure that has involved three excellences for now: Feudi di San Gregorio, Masi Agricola and Pasqua Vineyards and Cellars. Three Italian companies active in the wine sector that have individually issued minibonds for 21 million euro. All at a 7-year fixed rate to support the respective investment and development plans. ” It is not easy, in the context in which we live, to look ahead and continue to invest in the quality of products and processes. The support of two partners such as UniCredit and CDP gives us energy and enthusiasm and we will invest in our classic method sparkling wine”, he says Anthony Capaldo, President of Feudi di San Gregorio.
But who are the three industrial realities? Feudi di San Gregorio is a leading company in Southern Italy and abroad in the "Campania wines" segment. Masi Agricola SpA is listed on the AIM segment of Borsa Italiana and is one of the leading producers of fine wines. Pasqua Vigneti & Cantine SpA has been on the market since 1925, recognized throughout the world as a producer of great Veneto wines.
The Cdp-Unicredit financial operation, however, is already looking at other strategic supply chains of the Italian economy. Difficult not to agree with the management given that the European market will soon be enriched by public support and a new agri-food policy. Whoever has good financial resources, working capacity, circularity and sustainability of products on their side will win. In this regard, let us not forget that in Brussels in recent weeks there has been a strong discussion of the New agricultural policy with governments looking for a complicated synthesis.
Technically CDP and UniCredit each subscribed 50% of the total amount of the first issues of the programme. Paul Calcagnini, Deputy General Manager of CDP, explains that "the transaction has facilitated access to the capital market for companies not usually used to this type of instrument and has strengthened the collaboration with UniCredit following the signing of the July 2020 protocol". The consequence of that agreement was a loan of one billion euros for companies particularly affected by the Covid-19 emergency. Not less Francis Jordan, UniCredit's CEO Commercial Banking Western Europe motivates the interest in quality wine as one of the sectors "the best representatives in the world of Italian production excellence and at the same time among the most impacted by the current emergency phase".
Italian wine is worth 12 billion a year with exports of 6,3 billion in 2020. Companies want to continue doing good business, bringing the best of our crops to tables all over the world, from North to South. Competition is increasingly taking production cycles, cultivation areas and certifications into consideration.
It highlights it, for example, also for Federico Girotto, Managing Director of MASI Agricola happy with the "recognition of our representativeness in Made in Italy: a further incentive to intensify the focus on our values, distinctive skills and deep respect for the territory, also in terms of sustainability". And yes, investments are the litmus test for Richard Easter, Chief Executive Officer of Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine: "The issue of minibonds on our part will greatly accelerate the investment program in support of the most important projects in our portfolio".
Basically, it is understood from bankers and producers, with a good treasury you can fight better.
