Circular economy: Intesa Sanpaolo funds Thames Water
The transaction - completed by the Bank’s Corporate & Investment Division through the Intesa Sanpaolo London Hub Branch - was organised by Banca IMI, the Group’s investment bank with the support of the Circular Economy team at the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, the company specialised in innovation and the diffusion of the circular economy, headed by Maurizio Montagnese.
“This is the first project to use the 5-billion-euro credit ceiling allocated to sustain investment in the circular economy”
Intesa Sanpaolo is one of the most sustainable banks in the world, and for this it is included in the major sustainability indices. This background and the Intesa Sanpaolo Group’s strong drive towards innovation form the basis of a commitment to the Circular Economy: an economic model aimed at decoupling development from the exploitation of finite natural resources, as well as redesigning the industrial system.
For this reason, since 2015 the Bank has been the sole Financial Services Global Partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an organisation that operates in over 50 countries and is a leader in promoting and encouraging the circular economy model.
The agreement to open a new credit facility is further proof of the commitment by Thames Water, as provider of water services in the UK, to help achieve the sustainable development targets set by the United Nations.
Mauro Micillo, Head of the Corporate and Investment Banking Division of Intesa Sanpaolo and Managing Director of Banca IMI, has declared that “Intesa Sanpaolo is very pleased with this operation conducted in conjunction with Thames Water. Our Division is providing a credit facility, the importance of which goes beyond mere economic considerations. In fact, the agreements provide for the regular assessment of certain indicators relating to the circular economy, and associate certain economic incentives to such indicators in such a way as to improve the initially provided for terms of credit”.
Furthermore, Micillo has declared that “thanks to the cooperation with the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, we have all the tools required to take the utmost advantage of the opportunities offered by the new forms of sustainable economic project: this is a new challenge of strategic importance which will result in considerable benefits globally”.
“The commitment to the circular economy - Micillo concluded - is being manifested in real terms: with the agreement stipulated with Thames Water, the Intesa Sanpaolo Group has granted more than 500 million euro in loans to sustain 14 major projects”.
June 2019
