Vittoria issues ESG sustainability bond to finance investments

Vittoria has issued, through UniCredit, a 5 million ESG sustainability-linked bond in order to help to finance its investments in capacity and innovation in Thailand and Italy.

The €5 million-euro bond has a duration of six years and is initially fully subscribed by UniCredit. As a result of this financing operation, a reinforced partnership between Vittoria Group and UniCredit will further develop through corporate and retail services for the Vittoria Group and Vittoria Park in the coming months.

Stijn Vriends, President and CEO of Vittoria Group adds: “In Vittoria we are serious about our ESG initiatives, and we are thus very pleased that the market supports us with competitive financing of these.“

The new factory that opens in the beginning of 2023 will be part of the group’s Lion Tyres Thailand (LTT) industrial footprint and will help double the installed capacity for bicycle tyres over the coming years. The company hopes to be able to achieve both ramped up production volumes and carbon neutrality.

The new structure is designed and built following stringent ESG guidelines and will aim to achieve carbon neutrality through greater use of sustainable materials, investments in innovative electrified processes and renewable energy, plus installation of solar panels.

Vittoria will receive a bonus from UniCredit in the form of a reduction in the coupon rate upon achievement of the sustainability targets set at the time of the bond issue. To support the financing of these investments, Vittoria Group and UniCredit has opted to issue an ESG-related Bond, that will have ambitious Environment, Social and Governance objectives to reduce CO2 emissions, work-related incidents and to promote diversity in the workforce over the coming years.

Vittoria Park is being built around the group’s headquarters in Brembate as the world’s first all-discipline cycling experience and innovation centre for bicycle tyre development. The 5-hectare area contains more than 4 km of different cycling tracks, various skill areas and ‘Vittoria House’ where cyclists can meet. The Vittoria Park will also contain the new Bicycle Tyre Innovation Center for high-tech testing facilities that will combine internal and external testing for the first time in the world. It will reinforce the research and developing of more sustainable and recyclable products.

Marco Bortoletti, UniCredit’s Lombardy Regional Manager, said: “We are very pleased to support sustainability projects and consolidate our relationship with an international and innovative partner such as Vittoria, with whom we have had a long-standing partnership. Through the minibond instrument, a segment in which UniCredit is a leader in Italy, we mobilise significant resources in favour of Italian and Lombardy SMEs, encouraging and facilitating the transition of our entrepreneurial system towards alternative forms of investment financing. The numbers in Lombardy are of full satisfaction, as witnessed by the approximately EUR 130 million in total volumes underlying the issues of this capital market instrument by 24companies in Lombardy.”