(Adnkronos) - Carbonara: “Una delle principali attività di Cassa Depositi e Prestiti è sostenere la crescita delle imprese e affiancare il tessuto imprenditoriale italiano per cogliere tutte le opportunità derivanti dal contesto economico attuale. Uno dei canali principali di supporto alle aziende è la Finanza Alternativa: infatti, CDP sostiene lo sviluppo del mercato direttamente, supportando asset class innovative come le operazioni di BasketBond e indirettamente investendo in fondi di credito diversificati, tutto questo in addizionalità rispetto al sistema bancario. Cassa dal 2017 a oggi ha investito in numerose iniziative di private debt per un ammontare complessivo di circa 1 miliardo di euro e in grado di mobilitare risorse per oltre 2,5 miliardi a favore delle imprese. Anche quest’anno proseguiremo nell’attività di sostegno alle PMI per facilitare l’accesso al mercato dei capitali e la diversificazione delle fonti di finanziamento, con l’obiettivo di sostenerne i piani di crescita, in un’ottica sempre più orientata alla sostenibilità e all’innovazione” ha dichiarato Vincenzo Paolo Carbonara, Head of Alternative Financing CDP, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 What is the role of the CDP in the alternative finance market?
00:04 The intervention of the CDP in the alternative finance market
00:08 was born a few years ago in 2017,
00:11 with the first operations of Basket Bond,
00:14 the first investments in diversified credit funds.
00:16 For us, this type of operation, which does not require a huge amount of resources,
00:21 we define it as a flagship operation,
00:23 precisely because it is fully coherent with the strategic plan of the CDP
00:27 and has all the main characteristics of the CDP intervention philosophy,
00:31 that is, it has an anti-cyclic approach,
00:34 capable of being always close to the companies even in difficult moments,
00:38 such as those of the pandemic or during recent events.
00:43 It tries to diversify the financing sources,
00:46 trying to be complementary to the banking world.
00:50 It allows a blending of resources,
00:52 because the CDP in this case makes its own balance available,
00:55 it tries to attract more institutional investors
00:58 and it tries to activate public resources,
01:00 which can be regional, national or even community,
01:04 and it also represents a bit of the patient capital
01:06 that the companies need to put all the investment plans on the ground.
01:10 Let's say that for us this operation has a double goal.
01:13 On the one hand, it tries to lower the average intervention ticket,
01:17 both in terms of amounting and the average service ticket,
01:21 trying to go more and more on small and medium-sized companies.
01:24 On the other hand, it tries to facilitate the access to credit
01:27 of SMEs over medium-long periods,
01:29 so going in complementarity to the banking world,
01:32 which typically stops at 4 or 5 years,
01:35 while trying at the same time to bring some companies closer to the capital market,
01:40 those companies that perhaps alone would not be able to access you.
01:43 In terms of intervention directors,
01:46 the CDP has two in the Alternative Finance,
01:49 the first is direct and the second is indirect.
01:51 The direct one is the intervention of the basket bonds,
01:54 which are mini-bonds issued by the companies in a contextual way.
01:58 These companies issue mini-bonds that have a different import, duration and pricing.
02:03 There is a cardinalisation vehicle that buys these mini-bonds.
02:07 To buy them, it issues ABS titles,
02:10 that is, asset-backed securities,
02:12 which are signed by institutional investors,
02:14 among whom the CDP, always as an anchor investor.
02:17 Until today, we have taken part in all the operations of the basket bonds
02:20 for a total value of about 1 billion euros,
02:23 with support for growth plans of over 200,
02:26 between PMI and Mid Cap.
02:28 The second operation is indirect,
02:31 we carry it out in partnership with the European Investment Fund,
02:34 and in this case we intervene in diversified credit funds,
02:38 that is, we make a due diligence on the fund, on the keymen,
02:41 on the investment credit policies,
02:43 we go to the board of directors, we approve a commitment,
02:45 which the fund will then use in full autonomy
02:48 to try, also in this case, to support the growth plans of the companies
02:51 in the medium and long term.
02:53 Until today, we have authorized commitments,
02:56 therefore commitments for 400 million euros,
02:59 able to develop over 1.5 billion of direct medium-long-term finance for companies.
03:04 So in this case, CDP, both in the direct and indirect side,
03:08 it is important that there is in these operations,
03:10 precisely because it tries to cover and guarantee
03:13 a coverage, the auto-funding of these initiatives,
03:15 to support, either directly or indirectly,
03:18 the growth plans of the companies.