30 million euro from Intesa Sanpaolo with Green Guarantee by SACE to support LU-VE Group ESG investments
Intesa Sanpaolo supports the sustainable growth projects of LU-VE Group
- At the heart of the investments is the further expansion of LU-VE Group ESG projects, focused on the development and production of highly efficient refrigeration and air conditioning systems that use natural refrigerant fluids with low environmental impact
- The twoS-Loans, each of 15 million euro, disbursed by Intesa Sanpaolo make use of the SACE Green Guarantee and are part of the 1 billion euro funding underwritten by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti to support SMEs and Mid-Caps
- Intesa Sanpaolo has already disbursed 1.4 billion euro in Lombardy to support virtuous SMEs in achieving ESG objectives
Milan/Uboldo (VA), 31 August 2022 – Intesa Sanpaolo supports the sustainable growth projects of LU-VE Group. The multinational from Varese is listed on Euronext Milan and is one of the world's leading operators in the air heat exchangers sector. The Group has benefited from two loans of 15 million euro, for a total of 30 million, from Intesa Sanpaolo and backed by a SACE Green Guarantee with funding provided by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
The S-Loan Climate Change is part of Intesa Sanpaolo's broader plan to support corporate investments in the environmental transition and the achievement of the objectives linked to the “PNRR” (the National Recovery and Resilience Plan).
Specifically, the loan is intended for the development plans of LU-VE Group, aimed at mitigating climate change. The Group contributes directly to the well-being of the environment through the development of heat exchangers that use natural refrigerant fluids (CO2, ammonia, propane and glycol water), instead of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), with the consequent benefit of eliminating or drastically reducing the negative impacts on the environment (ODP - Ozone Depletion Potential and GWP - Global Warming Potential), thus also responding to the green needs of its customers.
The ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) improvement objectives linked to the S-Loan financing for LU-VE Group provide for the adoption of a Green Procurement Policy and the maintenance in the company fleet of a predetermined percentage of vehicles with reduced environmental impact.
The leading Italian banking group considers it essential to promote the development of a sustainable economy, favoring it in particular in SMEs and recognizing the importance of investments for compliance with ESG principles. Thanks to the medium/long-term S-Loan from Intesa Sanpaolo, companies can count on financial support for interventions towards greater sustainability from an environmental, social and corporate governance point of view and on a discount on the loan rate to reward the results achieved. The aim of this sharing of objectives and rewarding responds to the need to encourage and accelerate the essential environmental transition of Intesa Sanpaolo's client companies in order to reach the recovery objectives set in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan as soon as possible together with the Italian production system.
The Intesa Sanpaolo Group, one of the most sustainable banks in Europe, is present in the main sustainability indexes in the world as well as being among the few European financial groups to have joined all the main United Nations initiatives concerning the financial sector in this area. Attention to the environment and social inclusion are aspects of great importance for the country's sustainable growth and are considered central in the 2022-2025 Business Plan. In addition to having adopted rules for the reduction of loans in the coal and unconventional oil and gas sectors, Intesa Sanpaolo supports SME customers through S-Loans a specific line of loans created in 2020 and set out in the Motore Italia program to support, with a ceiling of 2 billion euro, the initiatives of companies towards the ESG/Climate transition with a reward mechanism for the achievement of specific broad-spectrum sustainability objectives. In addition to the ESG and Climate Change S-Loans, the Group's offer has been enriched with the S-Loan Diversity, Agribusiness, Tourism and with the introduction of the Green SACE guarantee for 80%. Always in support of SMEs that initiate circular economy and environmental impact reduction projects, Intesa Sanpaolo is making available the new 8 billion euro Circular Economy ceiling.
SACE plays a leading role in Italian ecological transition. In fact, the Company can issue green guarantees on domestic projects that facilitate transition to an economy with a lower environmental impact, integrate production cycles with low-emission technologies for the production of sustainable goods and services and promote initiatives aimed at developing new mobility with fewer polluting emissions. SACE has a network of 14 offices distributed throughout the country to serve businesses and identify the best financial insurance solutions to support their growth plans.
Matteo Liberali, CEO of LU-VE Group: "We are very pleased with this new collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo; thanks to it we can intensify our commitment to the engineering and development of innovative refrigeration and air conditioning system. Attention to sustainability has been one of our hallmarks since our foundation: research and investments in environmentally friendly solutions are the two fundamental points that have allowed the growth of the Group. We are increasingly enhancing the use of natural refrigerant fluids in our heat exchangers. For over 15 years, our research and development team has been working, ahead of other market players, to be able to broaden the range of applications for these fluids. Innovation and respect for the environment are in our DNA and therefore we greatly appreciate the fact that Intesa Sanpaolo has recognized our commitment, to support us on our next stage of growth ".
"We have always been strongly committed to supporting local companies in sustainable development and today even more so, accompanying them in the necessary transition to the green economy, in full agreement with our 2022-2025 industrial plan and with the pillars of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. To identify the most suitable tender notices for our customers, we have recently set up a digital and free platform on our website " said Gianluigi Venturini, Regional Director Northern Lombardy Intesa Sanpaolo. "We have disbursed 1.4 billion euro in Lombardy for circular economy projects and in S-Loans in favor of companies that, like LU-VE Group, are increasingly oriented towards ESG objectives, such as reducing their environmental impact and improvement in the social and governance areas. Awareness is growing more and more that being green and sharing orientation is worthwhile and allows both a more agile access to credit and an improvement in the levels of competitiveness, turnover and profitability."