21 gennaio 2019
Estra S.p.A. announces that it has entered into a loan agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. (Lending Bank) and Banca IMI S.p.A. (Arranger Bank) for a total amount of €50 million, maturing on 31 December 2023.
The innovative aspect of this transaction is that the terms of the loan (interest rate) become more favourable if the Company is able to meet a series of environmental sustainability targets.
This is Estra’s first sustainability-linked loan contract and confirms the Group's increasing focus on the values of sustainability and environmental protection.
More specifically, the loan margin will be tied to two performance indicators, as set out in the Group's Social Report: the annual number of new installations of electric vehicle charging stations and the percentage of waste sent for recycling.
The scheme rewards the achievement of specific targets and penalises the Company (by increasing the cost of the loan) if at least one of the two target values is not fulfilled and is lower than the current value.
"The idea of applying our environmental sustainability approach to the field of corporate finance demonstrates how fundamental this issue is for Estra, as also shown by our various initiatives on local sustainability," said Alessandro Piazzi, CEO of Estra. “We are aware that our Group's ability to create value in the long term is closely tied to a strong integration between economic, financial, governance, social and environmental factors."