Prada signs €90 million sustainability-linked loan with Unicredit

Italian luxury fashion house Prada SpA has signed a new sustainability-linked loan of 90 million euros with UniCredit for a period of 5 years on the 10th of February 2021. This loan comprises the financial facilities at a reduced rate of interest provided to the brand after they achieve certain quantitative targets in the field of environmental sustainability. An independent third party will certify this on an annual basis. The main KPIs of the loan are the regeneration and reconversion of production waste and Prada’s ability to increase the share of self-produced energy.

Alessandra Cozzani, the chief financial officer of Prada said that sustainability is also recognized, shared and valued globally by the financial industry. In achieving a sustainable economy, the results of this will act as an important stimulus. He also mentioned that in the luxury sector they are proud to be considered as a reference counterpart and among the first five players.

In the past, Prada has already invested in waste reduction in clothing, leather goods and footwear production. Through the regeneration process, fertilizer and energy generation, they are now planning to use third parties to certify the waste material which is used in other production cycles.

In the industrial and corporate sites, to meet the demand of the increasing kilowatt-hours produced annually in the period 2021 to 2025, Prada has also invested in establishing photovoltaic systems. This is done to make the production and logistics sites situated in   Levanella and Tuscany to become self-sufficient from an energy point of view.

The head of corporate and investment banking of UniCredit, Italy, Alfredo De Falco said that for businesses, sustainability is becoming a key competitive factor and hence it is impacting the choices of consumers and investors. In addition to that he also said that in Europe, regarding the financing solutions linked to ESG objectives, UniCredit is amongst the leading banks which support the transformation of business models of various companies. Hence, they feel very honored in supporting the path towards a sustainable economy of Made in Italy excellence: Prada.

Before this, Prada has also signed the first sustainability-linked loan in November 2019 with Crédit Agricole Group and was granted 50 million euros over five years. After this, in the luxury goods industry, it became the first brand to sign sustainability-linked loans. And the second sustainability-linked loan was signed with the Milan branch of Mizuho Bank Ltd. for a total of 75 million euros.