Investindustrial VII (Fund VII) has entered into one of the first European ESG-linked subscription credit facilities.
Investec Bank plc is the Arranger and Sustainability Coordinator of the EUR600 million facility, which is backed by a strong syndicate including State Street Corporation and Banca Intesa Sanpaolo. The facility has been structured with interest payments directly linked to ESG factors in areas such as environment, gender diversity and governance, and will be reduced as long as a number of those parameters are met.
In order to create a positive feedback loop, Investindustrial will ring-fence any interest cost savings made through the facility for investments in carbon reduction ESG initiatives, including the continued development of its portfolio of nature-based carbon reduction projects.
This achievement further highlights the Firm’s ongoing market leading commitment towards sustainable investment, following it being Certified a B Corp™ earlier this year whereby it received the highest score awarded to any private equity buyout firm and joined a global network of leading industrial companies and investment firms across 71 countries.
Investindustrial has been carbon neutral since 2008 and, as announced in February 2020, the Firm is now working towards its intention to become carbon positive across all of its active funds by the end of 2020. Furthermore, the goal by 2027 is to have 100% of electricity consumption across the portfolio sourced from renewable energy.
Andrea C Bonomi, Chairman of the Industrial Advisory Board at Investindustrial, says: “We are delighted to announce this facility as one of the first in Europe and the latest example of our continued commitment to sustainable investment. We have built sustainability considerations into our business and portfolio companies for the past two decades, and we remain ambitious in our goals.”
