Press release

Through the agreement Gardant will enhance the tools at its disposal to continue to evolve its proprietary software suite.

Thanks to the partnership between Gardant Investor SGR, acting as financial partner, and the CS Group, a world-leading industrial operator in the photovoltaic sector, the CSFS fund will invest in a pipeline of 7 plants in Sicily, Sardinia and Lazio.

The Group will act as servicer, corporate servicer, calculation agent and EIB guarantee monitoring agent under the ESG basket bond programme for a total value of at least EUR 100 million intended to finance the sustainable development projects of the country’s companies. The EIB-guaranteed programme was launched by UniCredit and CDP for SMEs and mid-caps. The initial EUR 48 million issue will finance eight Italian companies.

The initiative aims to realise development projects in the field of Data Science, Artificial Intelligence & Advanced Analytics at the service of the Gardant Group’s management and investment activities, through the adoption of the best technological solutions available on the market and by opening collaborations with fintech companies and academic institutions of excellence.

The framework agreement provides for the creation of a joint venture between BPER Group and Gardant Group, which will hold 70%.
As part of the offer, the BPER Group is also foreseen to divest:

• an NPL portfolio with a gross book value of approximately EUR 1.5 billion by December 2022 to AMCO;
• a UTP portfolio with a gross book value of approximately EUR 0.5 billion to a securitisation vehicle, where companies controlled by Elliott’s funds will underwrite securities by 1Q2023.Negotiations are also underway between BPER and AMCO for a further sale to AMCO of a portfolio of UTPs with a gross book value of approximately EUR 0.5 billion.

The collaboration includes an increased integration of Gardant’s remarketing activity with Italy’s leading real estate portal 

The transaction is part of the three-year EUR 100 million basket bond plan launched by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Medio Credito Centrale and Sella to support Italian SMEs

The new premises in Via Curtatone 3 in Rome, located a few steps from Termini railway station, cover a total area of 4,000 square metres and offer over 300 workstations