TGR Veneto: Hydrobond - intervista ad A.Masitto, Resp. Finanziamenti Energia, Utilities e Tlc di CDP

Monica Manto, President of Viveracqua. Good morning. On the Viveracqua HDR Bond 2024 initiative, we have prepared a fact sheet. The goal is to modernize integrated water service infrastructure in Veneto. The fifth bond issuance of 200 million euros has been completed, financing investment plans of eight Veneto water companies. The HDR Bond is a private placement supporting water sector investments, serving approximately 100 municipalities and 3 million inhabitants through 30,000 km of aqueducts. Proceeds go toward modernizing infrastructure in both aqueduct and sewer networks. The issuance was subscribed by the European Investment Bank, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Kommunalkredit Austria, Banca Popolare dell'Alto Adige, and other institutional investors. CDP invested in this operation, as promoting strategic infrastructure falls within its priority areas.

So, President Manto, we've heard it. At this point, the funds are there — what will they be used for concretely?

The objectives have been well summarized. We have very substantial investment plans in Veneto — new works for the sewerage, wastewater treatment, and water sectors in the 2024–2025 triennium: 1.5 billion euros in new works. These need financial support because the current regulatory system provides that tariffs — the bills of all us citizens — support new works and operator management only two years after the work comes into function. So there is a need for financial leverage to address these new works. It can be traditional banking leverage or this different, extraordinary approach, which has become a case study of financing through bond issuance. To simplify, all the issuing companies emit their own bond, which together — that's why it's called Viveracqua HDR Bond — constitute a single security issued by a special purpose vehicle grouping all these companies.

What are the main critical issues to address, also with these funds?

There are many, but the most urgent one requiring acceleration in completing these works is adaptation to climate change. We all remember the 2022 drought — springs no longer active, wells essentially dried up. We had the salt wedge problem for operators like Veritas or Acque Venete, where brackish water rose up and couldn't be treated or made potable. Or the extreme rainfall in 2018, where an enormous territory including the city of Rovigo was left without water because post-flood river turbidity was so high that surface water couldn't be adequately treated. So we are called upon to accelerate our works and do more, even though Veneto is already very virtuous. The Italian average for investment per inhabitant is around 70 euros; in Veneto we already achieve about 80, and with the planned investments we'll reach 105, placing us among the best in Europe. Water dispersion is a problem across all of Italy, and in Veneto too it receives particular attention through works supported by these HDR Bonds. We act on two parallel tracks: first, replacing old, deteriorated pipelines that break frequently; and more proactively, through network districting to regulate pressures and anticipate breaks in a predictive manner.

Thank you, Monica Manto, for being with us and explaining how the aqueduct network in the region will function in the future. Thank you.