ACQUA NOVARA VCO WATER SECTOR GREEN LOAN (EIB-20240529)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Italy
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Novara, Piedmont region
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • European Investment Bank (EIB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
U
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Acqua Novara VCO SpA
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Infrastructure
  • Water and Sanitation
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 168.43 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 150
Converted using 2025-05-28 exchange rate.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 168.43 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported EUR 150 million
Converted using 2025-05-28 exchange rate.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 336.85 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported EUR 300 million
Converted using 2025-05-28 exchange rate.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EIB website

Updated in EWS Jun 12, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Dec 18, 2024


Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the EIB, the project concerns Acqua Novara VCO's 2025-2030 water and wastewater investment programme, aimed at improving system resilience through interconnections of the water distribution networks, new water sources, and leakage reduction as well as optimisation of existing sewerage treatment facilities.

The aim is to continue support the promoter's investments (e.g. water and wastewater treatment plants, networks and pumping stations) in the Piedmont region.

The EIB finance is backed by SACE’s Archimede guarantee - which covers two-thirds of the funding - and the European Union’s InvestEU programme - which covers the remaining €50 million.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by the EIB, Acqua Novara VCO SpA is the in-house integrated water services provider for the Piedmont region’s service area no. 1. It serves 138 municipalities in the provinces of Novara and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola with a workforce of 300 employees. It is the second-largest water management company in Piedmont. It has a strong focus on environmental, social and governance issues and takes protecting water resources in its catchment area very seriously.

SACE is an insurance and finance company owned by the Italian Ministry for the Economy and Finance. It specialises in helping Italian companies to grow through a wide range of tools and solutions backing exports and innovation, including financial guarantees, factoring, risk management and protection, advisory services and business matching. With a network of 11 offices in Italy and 13 more in Made in Italy target countries around the world, SACE currently supports 60 000 companies, enabling them to reach their national and international potential with a portfolio of insurance operations and guaranteed investments worth approximately €270 billion in 200 global markets.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Acqua Novara VCO SpA Client Water and Sanitation
- - - - SACE SpA (Servizi Assicurativi del Commercio Estero) Undisclosed Finance

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No project contacts provided at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.eib.org/en/infocentre/registers/request-form/request-form-default.htm

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EIB

The EIB Complaints Mechanism is designed to facilitate and handle complaints against the EIB by individuals, organizations or corporations affected by EIB activities. When exercising the right to lodge a complaint against the EIB, any member of the public has access to a two-tier procedure, one internal - the Complaints Mechanism Office - and one external - the European Ombudsman. A complaint can be lodged via a written communication addressed to the Secretary General of the EIB, via email to the dedicated email address: complaints@eib.org, by completing the online complaint form available at the following address: http://www.eib.org/complaints/form via fax or delivered directly to the EIB Complaints Mechanism Division, any EIB local representation office or any EIB staff. For further details, check: http://www.eib.org/attachments/strategies/complaints_mechanism_policy_en.pdf

When dissatisfied with a complaint to the EIB Complaints Mechanism, citizens can then turn towards the European Ombudsman. A memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the EIB and the European Ombudsman establishes that citizens (even outside of the EU if the Ombudsman finds their complaint justified) can turn towards the Ombudsman on issues related to 'maladministration' by the EIB. Note that before going to the Ombudsman, an attempt must be made to resolve the case by contacting the EIB. In addition, the complaint must be made within two years of the date when the facts on which your complaint is based became known to you. You can write to the Ombudsman in any of the languages of the European Union. Additional details, including filing requirements and complaint forms, are available at: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/atyourservice/interactiveguide.faces

How it works

How it works