Intesa Sanpaolo: circular economy financing in first international transaction

• £175 million loan agreement with Thames Water, the UK’s largest water and wastewater company
• Since 2015, Intesa Sanpaolo is the sole Financial Services Global Partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the leading organization promoting the circular economy
• Mauro Micillo, Head of CIB: “To date, the Group has provided more than €500 million to the circular economy through our dedicated €5 billion financing facility”

Milan, 3 June 2019 – Intesa Sanpaolo concluded its first international transaction drawing on the Group’s €5 billion financing facility dedicated to the circular economy. The Group will provide financing of about £175 million (about €200 million) to Thames Water, the UK’s largest water and wastewater company.

The transaction was led by the London Hub of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) Division –and structured by Banca IMI, with the support of the Circular Economy Team of the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, the Group company focused on innovation and promoting the circular economy, chaired by Maurizio Montagnese.

Intesa Sanpaolo is recognized as one of the most sustainable banks in the world, featuring in all the main sustainability indices. The Group’s commitment to the circular economy, a new economic model aimed at decoupling development from reliance on finite natural resources and redesigning the industrial system, stems from this emphasis on sustainability as well as a strong drive towards innovation. Since 2015, Intesa Sanpaolo is the sole Financial Services Global Partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the leading organization promoting the circular model.

The loan agreement provided by the new funding facility further underlines Thames Water’s commitment to sustainability as a responsible water and wastewater services provider and its contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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Mauro Micillo, Head of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Corporate & Investment Banking Division and CEO of Banca IMI commented: “We are very pleased with this transaction alongside Thames Water. Our Division is providing financing that goes beyond just the economic dimension: the agreement foresees regular checks based on circular economy metrics, linking these indicators to certain economic incentives that can improve the loan conditions. Thanks to the support of the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, we have all the tools we need to leverage opportunities offered by new sustainable financing initiatives; it is an innovative and strategic challenge that can bring significant benefits at a global level. Our commitment to the circular economy is becoming concrete: with today’s transaction, the Intesa Sanpaolo Group has provided more than €500 million to finance 14 important initiatives”.

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Intesa Sanpaolo
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Corporate & Investiment Banking e Media Internazionali
T: +39 02 879 67504
stampa@intesasanpaolo.com
www.intesasanpaolo.com/it/news

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Thames Water is the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with a supply area covering approximately 25% of the population of England and Wales and a Regulated Capital Value of £14.1 billion as at September 2018. The company supplies 2.7 billion litres of drinking water to 9 million people and removes 4.4 billion litres of wastewater from 15 million people daily, with a network that includes 31,000km of water pipes and 109,000km of sewers.