On 5 August 2022, Sistema Rinnovabili – through its subsidiary AGRO SOLAR I S.r.l. – and ING BANK N.V., Milan Branch have finalised a project financing for a total amount of ca. €32m to finance the construction and operation of a photovoltaic plant with a capacity of ca. 30 MWp in the province of Viterbo. The plant will supply renewable energy for ten years to a major Italian industrial customer in the chemical sector thanks to an innovative long-term supply contract finalised in cooperation with Axpo Italia.
“This is one of the first large-scale plants under construction in Italy to be financed through project financing,” commented Antonio Urbano, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “This will be followed in the Autumn by other projects for over 50MW. Another step in the growth strategy of the group, which has a pipeline of over 1GW of projects in advanced development, in addition to the 42MW already in operation”.
Sistema Rinnovabili was assisted by ValeCap as financial advisor – a team coordinated by partner Pierluigi Berchicci and composed of Davide Di Federico (managing director), Francesco Chiavistelli (director) and Renato Villani (analyst) – and by Gianni & Origoni for the legal and contractual matters – a team coordinated by Fabio Ilacqua and Francesco Puntillo (partners) and composed of Maria Panetta (counsel), Filippo Andreoni and Franco Zeppieri (associates) for the financial aspects, Angelo Crisafulli (counsel) and Ilaria Chiucolo (associate) for the administrative aspects, Raffaele Tronci (partner) for the aspects related to the project contracts, Francesca Staffieri (counsel) for the tax aspects, and by MBS Consulting as market and PPA advisor (team coordinated by Paolo Marino and composed of Marco Pellegrino and Alejandro Sanchez Ben).
ING Bank N.V. was instead assisted by EOS Consulting S.p.A. for the technical side (with a team coordinated by Partner Alessandro Chiusolo, assisted by Team Manager Roberto Alessandrini, Senior Expert Elisabetta Volpato and Expert Valerio Cuccini) and by the international law firm Ashurst with a multidisciplinary team coordinated by Managing Partner Carloandrea Meacci. Senior associate Federica Periale, associate Yasmina Tourougou and trainees Alberto Chiusin and Mariano Rossi handled the preparation and negotiation of all financial documentation. Partner Elena Giuffrè with senior associate Gianluca Di Stefano took care of the regulatory and due diligence aspects together with senior associate Federica Periale and trainee Alberto Chiusin who followed the civil law and project contract aspects. Partner Michele Milanese with associate Federico Squarcia and trainee Simone Ferrucci assisted with the tax aspects of the transaction. ING was also assisted by Albion in the role of documentary agent in the financing transaction with a team composed of partner Odile Etienne, with the collaboration of Giorgio Turetta and Giuliana Pulga.
For the drafting and negotiation of the supply contract (Long Term PPA), Axpo Italia was assisted by the Energy & Efficiency team of the Tax&Law area of EY – Studio Legale Tributario with a team led by Partner Mattia Riccardo Petrillo, Italian Energy Law Leader, assisted by the lawyers Anna Chiara Bifulco and Lorenzo Sperti. The internal team of Axpo Italia that worked on the agreement is composed of the Origination division with the Head of Origination & Business Development Simone Rodolfi, the Head of Structured Origination Mattia Picco and the originator Nicole Colla, and the Legal team in the persons of Stefano Brogelli, Legal&Compliance Director, and Guido Parodi, Legal Affairs Manager