BPER SUSTAINABLE LOAN FOR SME AND MIDCAPS (EIB-20230472)

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.
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
FI
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
Feb 1, 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
Banco di Sardegna SpA, BPER Banca SpA, Sardaleasing - Società di Locazione Finanziaria PA
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Finance
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Guarantee, Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 543.72 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 500
Converted using 2024-02-01 exchange rate.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 380.60 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 350 million
Converted using 2024-02-01 exchange rate.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EIB website

Updated in EWS Feb 21, 2024

Disclosed by Bank Feb 19, 2024


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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 EIB, the lending line to BPER aims at financing the investment and working capital needs of Italian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps in their sustainable transition. A climate action (CA&ES) window of at least of 30% of the total lending line is proposed together with a minimum of 40% dedicated to businesses located or operating in the Southern Regions of Italy, namely Cohesion Regions.

The aim is to provide final beneficiaries with working capital and liquidity to solve market failure in the target business segments, in view to sustain their commitment towards decarbonisation. The operation will in fact target investments and projects in energy efficiency, energy production from non fossil sources and technologies reducing consumption of natural resources.

Ultimately, 40% of the overall funding line will target final beneficiaries located and operating in the less developed areas of Italy which qualify as EU Cohesion areas, namely the Italian southern and insular regions. Those areas of Italy have suffered from long-term structural economic and social weaknesses, which are persisting. Also in those Regions, the climate and sustainable transition is a strong challenge but it may also be a potential vector of new alternative economic development.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
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, BPER Banca is the parent company of the BPER Banca Group, which comprises three banks (BPER Banca, Banco di Sardegna and Banca Cesare Ponti) and has some 1 650 branches across all Italian regions, with over 20 000 employees and more than 5 million customers.

BPER is Italy’s third-biggest listed banking group in terms of total deposits and number of branches. In addition to its banks, the BPER Group includes a number of product factories and ancillary services undertakings. The bank’s distribution structure on the Italian mainland currently comprises ten regional divisions.

BPER operates through investee companies and joint ventures in all major market segments (corporate and investment banking, private and wealth management, bancassurance, leasing, factoring and consumer credit) and, thanks to a solid network of participations and partnerships, is able to offer qualified assistance to its clients in all key international markets.

The bank supports people, businesses and communities, backing entrepreneurial projects and fostering the growth of families and regions. It promotes innovative solutions integrated with ESG criteria to combine business growth and financial solidity with social and environmental sustainability.


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 information provided at the time of disclosure.

Financial Intermediary - BPER Banca SpA:

Website: https://www.bper.it/

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

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