Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW“) advised BPER Banca and MPS Capital Services Banca per le Imprese S.p.A. on the structuring of a €16m project financing for the construction and management of a portfolio of four hydroelectric plants with the total capacity of circa 7.5 MW. The financing provided a tailored structure designed to accommodate the different stages of development of the four plants: one operative, one under construction and two awaiting authorisation to begin production.

The plants are owned by Idroemilia S.r.l. (part of Italian construction company Piacentini Costruzioni owned by Sistema Iniziative Locali – SINLOC), and will provide electricity to the provinces of Reggio Emilia and Modena (Emilia Romagna Region, Italy).

BPER Banca is a commercial and co-operative bank and the parent bank of the BPER Group, one of Italy’s leading banking groups focusing primarily on small and medium enterprises with a strong international client base.

MPS Capital Services Banca per le Imprese S.p.A. is the corporate and investment banking arm of MPS Group, Italy’s third largest banking group.

The WFW Italy team advising BPER Banca and MPS Capital Services Banca per le Imprese S.p.A. was led by finance Partner Pierpaolo Mastromarini. He was assisted by Associate Daniele Pompei who also acted as project manager on all the project financing’s documentation.

Giovannella Condò of Studio Milano Notai acted as notary for the transaction.