Early Warning System

Countries

Romania

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Financial Institutions

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

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

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."

Voting Date

Oct 29, 2024

Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.

Borrower

Autonom Services S.A.

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Industry and Trade

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)

$ 9.74 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 9
Converted using 2024-10-29 exchange rate.

Bank Documents

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EBRD website

Updated in EWS Feb 24, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Nov 25, 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.

According to the Bank’s website, the project consists of an investment of EUR 9 million in the second Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB) issuance of EUR 30 million placed by Autonom in November 2024 and to be subsequently listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

The proceeds will be used for the financing of Autonom's general corporate purposes including project financing purposes (including future acquisition of companies / portfolios, if any), in each case as further detailed in the offering document.

Early Warning System Project Analysis

For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

Categorised B (2019 ESP). This is the second Sustainability Linked Bond (SLB) issuance with Autonom. Due to the nature of the capital markets transactions, the Bank's due diligence has been limited to an in-house review of publicly available documents, including the client's Sustainability report 2023, SLB framework and an external opinion provided by Sustainalytics.

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Investment of EUR 9 million in the second Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB) issuance of EUR 30 million placed by the client.

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.

Autonom Services S.A. is one of the largest locally owned providers of integrated automotive services, covering operating leasing, fleet management and short-term rental of vehicles. Autonom (Fitch rating B+, Positive outlook) has 52 agencies located in 38 cities in Romania, a fleet of 15,900 cars, of which 20% are electric and hybrid and operates with 555 employees. Revenues reached EUR 146m in 2023 (12% y-o-y).

Private Actor 1	Private Actor 1 Role	Private Actor 1 Sector	Relation	Private Actor 2	Private Actor 2 Role	Private Actor 2 Sector
-	-	-	-	AUTONOM SERVICES SA	Client	-

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.

COMPANY CONTACT INFORMATION

Laura Ciubotaru
laura.ciubotaru@autonom.com
+40233229616
https://www.autonom.ro/

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can request information by emailing: accessinfo@ebrd.com or by using this electronic form: https://www.ebrd.com/eform/information-request

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EBRD

The Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the PCM, it may assess compliance with EBRD's own policies and procedures to prevent harm to the environment or communities or it may assist you in resolving the problem that led to the complaint through a dialogue with those implementing the project. Additionally, the PCM has the authority to recommend a project be suspended in the event that harm is imminent.

You can contact the PCM at: pcm@ebrd.com or you can submit a complaint online using an online form at: http://www.ebrd.com/eform/pcm/complaint_form?language=en

You can learn more about the PCM and how to file a complaint at: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/project-finance/project-complaint-mechanism.html