Italia Zuccheri obtains financing of 50 million for ecological transition

Italia Zuccheri-Coprob has signed a loan of 50 million euros to support the ecological transition, to be implemented through the 2022-2025 strategic plan. This was announced by the cooperative of beet producers, in a note, specifying that the operation, due to its characteristics (inventory loan and ESG compliant), is the first ever for the sector. The loan has an industrial value and ” allows the company to finance the working capital requirement deriving from the seasonal cycle of the beet harvesting and processing campaign in the medium term ”. Structured as a 4-year revolving line guaranteed by sugar in stock, it was underwritten by a pool of 5 banks (Mps capital services (agent bank), Agricultural Credit Italy, Banco Bpm, Cassa savings Ravenna and Iccrea Banca) which supported the company in the transaction, making it possible to stabilize terms and conditions and extend the average life of the debt. The loan was organized by Mitfin spa and the transaction was structured and finalized by a joint Coprob-Mitfin team. The loan was organized by Mitfin SpA, a Milanese corporate finance boutique operating since 1997 with a long track record in structured finance and M&A transactions. The operation was structured and finalized by a joint Coprob-Mitfin team, led respectively by Gaetano Di Bari (CFO of Italia Zuccheri-Coprob), Andrea Magnaghi (partner and one of the founders of Mitfin, with more than 30 years of experience in corporate finance) and Ferdinando Schirripa (since 2019 in Mitfin after 30 years of international experience as an investment banker and manager of Credit Lyonnais, Credit Agricole and Natixis). “The important transaction allows the financial strengthening of the cooperative and makes the ambitious long-term projects of the Italian sugar supply chain feasible – as stated by Bruno Treglia, General Manager of Italia Zuccheri – Coprob – in the name of innovation and sustainability at 360 degrees. “. Italia Zuccheri-Coprob, born in 1962, is the only beet sugar producer in Italy and guarantees about 20% of the national needs. It is the only integrated supply chain of 100% Italian sugar. The company, which employs 450 permanent and seasonal employees, produces more than 200,000 tons of sugar per year in the factories of Minerbio (Bo) and Pontelongo (Pd), transforming the beet grown by 4,500 members into about 30,000 hectares in Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Marche, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lombardy and Piedmont. The 2021 consolidated financial statements recorded 228 million revenues (+ 10% vs 2020) made with the Italia Zuccheri brand, 12.9 million Ebitda (+ 15% vs 2020) and 4.7 million euros of Net Profit (+ 65% vs 2020). These results are the prerequisites for further development of Coprob whose growth will be driven by new quality, organic and increasingly genuine products. Today Italia Zuccheri-Coprob is the most important organic beet sugar chain in Europe under a single operator and is an excellence in the development of a sustainable agriculture model, which focuses on the enhancement of short chain products. In 2020 it started the certification of agricultural production through the National Quality System of Integrated Production (Sqnpi), a certification scheme, recognized at Community level, with the aim of enhancing agricultural vegetable production in compliance with regional integrated production regulations.