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Empowering Sustainable Growth
ELITE is Euronext Group’s SMEs network supporting high-impact entrepreneurs to foster economic growth and sustainable development.
Sustainability Growth Labs
An opportunity to meet European businesses, experts and stakeholders to discuss how to efficiently embed sustainability into their business, strategy and processes.
Sustainability Certificate
Sustainability is no longer just an ethical alternative to growth, but a mandatory path of change. Environmental and social responsibility of the company have relevant competitive impact, bringing benefits in terms of access to capital, cost and risk reduction, reputation improvement and value for employees, customers and all stakeholders.
What are the requirements for obtaining the Sustainability Certificate?
- Dedicated to ELITE Companies
- Annual non-financial reporting, GRI or ESRS compliant
- Section on sustainability in the strategic plan, including objectives and 3Y KPIs, driven by a materiality assessment on key stakeholders
- Section on governance in the strategic plan including: guidelines on diversity, corporate welfare, supplier/client responsibility, sustainability in the BoD agenda
Corporate Governance Certificate
An effective corporate governance structure is indispensable through the steps of company's life, to effectively manage generational changes or the entry of a new shareholder into the corporate structure. Clear and stable corporate governance is also necessary in order to avoid conflicts of interest between different stakeholders and drive a solid decision making process.
What are the requirements for obtaining the Corporate Governance Certificate?
- Dedicated to ELITE Companies
- Board of Directors with clear separation of roles
Presence in the Board of diversity, soft skills, business skills, management/entrepreneurial skills - Standard documentation in preparation of the Board and as minutes
- Guidelines for inclusivity in resource selection
- Succession plan and guidelines for generational change
The Fundamental Principles of Good Governance
This new version of the 'Corporate Governance Framework' represents an evolution of the first version of 2019.
It takes up its cornerstones and integrates them with the most recent contributions on diversity - which in a holistic sense refers not only to gender, but also to the skills represented in the company's organisation and on the Board of Directors, as well as the average age of directors - and sustainability and sustainable growth.
Sustainability-linked Basket Bond
The program - defined by Eni, ELITE and UniCredit - aims to channel funds towards companies, supporting their multi-year investment programs suitable for achieving SDG objectives, with a particular focus on environmental, social, and economic dimensions.
Target companies
All SMEs and MidCaps in the energy supply chain that are members of the Open-es platform will be eligible to participate in the Program.
The Program is therefore open not only to Eni’s direct and indirect suppliers but also to other companies within the supply chain that aim to improve their sustainability profile.
The project is dedicated to companies with an indicative minimum turnover of €5 million and a profitability margin of approximately 10%, which are interested in financing growth projects and enhancing their sustainability profile.
The bond instrument will have an indicative duration of 6 years and a minimum amount of approximately €2 million.
For participation in this transaction, each company’s needs will be assessed based on its size, development plans, and sustainability profile.
Financial Structure
The bonds issued by the Issuers, subject to obtaining a positive credit resolution from investors, will be subscribed by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) established under Law 130/1999. The SPV will, in turn, issue asset-backed securities (ABS), which will be fully subscribed by investors until the available plafond is exhausted.
Benefits for companies
By joining the “Basket Bond - Energy Sustainability-linked” Program, companies will be able to:
• Improve their sustainability positioning, gaining competitiveness in the market, which will lead to a progressive reduction in financing costs.
• Diversify and integrate funding sources while reducing their exposure to the banking channel.
• Finance medium-to-long-term investment initiatives.
• Connect with and gain accreditation from institutional investors.
• Optimize the bond issuance process by accelerating execution times and reducing operational costs.
To date, 5 companies have raised a total of €25 million through the Basket Bond – Energy Sustainability-linked.