Shipbuilding giant Fincantieri has signed an €800mn lending facility backed by the Italian export credit agency Sace.  

The five-year sustainability-linked deal was arranged by BNP Paribas, which also acted as bookrunner, agent bank, structuring bank and sustainability co-ordinator.  

Banco BPM, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, BNL, BPER Banca, CaixaBank, Deutsche Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo and Santander are the original lenders.  

Fincantieri manufactures passenger, military and cargo vessels at shipyards across Italy, including cruise ships for clients such as Cunard, Norwegian Cruise Line and Princess Cruises. It says the loan will be used to fuel the company’s organic growth and help alleviate its construction backlog.  

The facility is sustainability-linked because it is “intertwined” with achieving targets contained in its 2023-2027 sustainability report, Fincantieri says. The company has committed to trimming its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 8% by 2027, increasing the energy efficiency of its cruise ships and “attention to gender representation by promoting women in senior roles”. Intesa Sanpaolo is acting as sustainability agent.  

Sace is covering 70% of the facility under its SupportItalia guarantee product, which was introduced last year to help companies which say they have suffered from high energy costs or other challenges because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.