BackCity Green Light secures close to €200 million to scale up and diversify its sustainable lighting offering
- Financing is earmarked for the company’s growth plan, including the evolution from operator in the public lighting sector to a leader in the supply of smart and energy-efficient services to Italian public administration.
- Funding was granted by five leading Italian banks and partially backed by SACE, the Italian Export Credit Agency’s Green Guarantee scheme.
- CGL is a Marguerite portfolio company owned by Marguerite II.
Luxembourg/Milan, 22 September 2023 – City Green Light (CGL), a Marguerite portfolio company, has secured €197 million in financing to support its growth plan and investments in energy efficiency and digitalisation, including new business lines and M&A transactions. CGL offers public lighting, energy efficiency and smart city services and operates in Italy.
The resources will mainly be used to implement investment projects dedicated to the energy transition and digitalisation of public administration, thus promoting integrated energy efficiency solutions in critical sectors, such as public lighting, public building management and renewable energy communities.
The funding, with a duration of roughly seven years, falls within Italy’s Green New Deal objectives thanks to its positive impact on climate change mitigation.
The financing banks are Intesa Sanpaolo – which acted as Lender Coordinator, Bookrunner, Mandated Lead Arranger, Agent Bank and Sace Agent through its IMI Corporate & Investment Banking Division; Cassa Depositi e Prestiti; UniCredit; BNL BNP Paribas and Sparkasse-Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano (Bookrunners and Mandated Lead Arrangers). Intesa Sanpaolo also acted as Green Loan Coordinator for structuring the green lines of €192 million out of the total €197 million for the green projects included in the company’s plan.
The agreement was partially assisted, for €96 million, by the SACE Green Guarantee scheme offered by the Italian Export Credit Agency. SACE plays a leading role in Italy’s ecological transition by issuing green guarantees on domestic projects that promote economic activities with a lower environmental impact.
City Green Light, established in 2017, is jointly owned by Marguerite II, the Italian Energy Efficiency Fund, and Ipin 2E. It serves over 250 municipalities throughout Italy and manages over 900,000 lighting points, 100 road tunnels and 1,600 security cameras.
“In a general context that, as never before, imposes priority on the implementation of actions to favour the green transition, the financing operation just concluded will allow us to continue with the execution of a transformative business plan that aims to complete our evolution from a pure operator in the public lighting sector to a leader in the supply of smart and energy-efficient services to Italian public administrations at all levels,” said Eugenio Colla, City Green Light CEO.
Vitale&Co assisted CGL as financial advisor; PwC Strategy& and SINLOC as industrial advisors; and Ashurst as legal advisor. Legance assisted the financing banks.