A new milestone in Italy’s financial innovation: BPER and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) structure a €10 m tokenised minibond on public blockchain for SITE S.p.A., equally subscribed for by the two financial institutions.

The issuance of the minibond is one of the first ever in Italy and the largest by amount and highlights the rapid adoption and importance of the blockchain technology in the financial sector to ensure greater transparency and faster execution compared to traditional systems. The initiative is characterised by the tokenisation of the bond and full management of its issuance and subscription through the blockchain technology, powered by the Blockinvest platform, in full compliance with the “Fintech” Decree Law (No. 25, of 17 March 2023), guaranteed by Weltix as the Registry Manager. In this context, CDP and BPER continue to place innovation at the service of businesses, with the aim of further expanding their options to access capital with more efficient, digital tools.

The 6-year maturity minibond will finance the purchase of new transportation systems, software, and control and monitoring programmes to be used at the SITE Group’s operating plants in Italy (particularly, in Emilia Romagna and in the regions of Southern Italy). SITE S.p.A. operates in the design, construction and management of large-scale infrastructure projects for the public sector and corporate customers in telecommunications, ICT, security, energy, rail and construction, with a strong international footprint in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Andrea Nuzzi, Chief Business Officer at CDP, commented: “Through the completion of the largest tokenised bond issuance structured in Italy, CDP confirms its leadership in financial innovation. Since the earlier stages of tokenised finance experimentation in Italy, we have been committed to a journey which is further confirmed today by the blockchain being applied to financial tools for businesses. This commitment continues to drive our efforts to make the capital markets ever more modern, efficient and accessible”.

Eugenio Errigo, Chief Financial Officer of the SITE Group, commented: “This €10 m financing is a significant step in our financial planning strategy. The transaction, structured with BPER Banca and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti as our leading partners, contributes to securing stable funding for the SITE Group to flexibly support its development and consolidation plans across the country. The trust placed in us by the subscribing institutions confirms the economic and capital solidity of SITE and the credibility of our future growth prospects”.

For this digital minibond issuance, BPER acted as arranger and subscriber, CDP as institutional investor, Weltix served as registry manager with Blockinvest as its technical partner, while Simmons & Simmons acted as legal advisor.