Italy: Water infrastructure – Viveracqua Hydrobond 2025 closes sixth issue with total of €200 million

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

• Hydrobond is an instrument that since 2014 has supported investments worth a total of €2.4 billion in Veneto’s water network
• The issue was fully subscribed by the EIB, backed by SACE guarantee
• The Temporary Grouping of Companies formed by Banca Finint and Cappelli Riolo Calderaro Crisostomo Del Din & Partners structured the transaction.
• The funds raised will back a €200 million plan to modernise and improve the efficiency of Veneto’s integrated water service infrastructure.
• Five local companies are involved in the project: acquevenete, Alto Trevigiano Servizi, Etra, Piave Servizi and Viacqua. These companies manage a total of around 330 municipalities and 2.5 million residents via an 11 000 km water network.

Viveracqua has completed its sixth bond issue of €200 million as part of the Hydrobond initiative. This most recent placement brings the total investment mobilised to modernise and improve the efficiency of Veneto’s integrated water service infrastructure to €2.4 billion since 2014. The issuance was fully subscribed by the European Investment Bank (EIB), with SACE’s Archimede guarantee. Banca Finint, alongside Cappelli Riolo Calderaro Crisostomo Del Din & Partners, acted as arranger and placement agent.

Set up as a private placement, the operation will provide financing for the investment plans of the five companies – acquevenete, Alto Trevigiano Servizi, Etra, Piave Servizi and Viacqua – serving around 330 municipalities and 2.5 million residents via an 11 000 km water network. In concrete terms, works totalling around €465 million will be planned for the next four years to modernise and improve the efficiency of the water and sewerage network, including via wastewater treatment operations, in line with the principles of sustainable management of water resources (goal 6 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda) and to the benefit of the regions served.

Thanks to the Hydrobond instrument, around €1 billion of bonds have been issued since 2014. These issues have helped unlock nearly €2.4 billion of investment on the ground. The investments have helped to accelerate the actions needed to adapt infrastructure to climate change and reduce leakage, both by replacing damaged pipes and by moving towards districting and digitalisation of networks to anticipate disruptions and deploy predictive systems.

The current Hydrobond issue is backed by SACE’s Archimede guarantee to the EIB, which covers the full amount of the operation whose underlying bond issues have a term of 20 years.

“The long-term funds guaranteed by this sixth issue ensure greater stability in the planning of operations: replacing the most vulnerable pipes, upgrading wastewater treatment plants, adapting sewerage networks and digitalising systems in order to anticipate and manage critical issues. In this way, Viveracqua’s network managers can structurally reduce water losses, improve the efficiency of treatment cycles and provide a more robust and reliable service. This confirms a public industrial model that combines efficiency thanks to shared procedures and coordinated investments; sustainability, through works that reduce water and energy consumption and improve environmental performance; and responsibility towards the regions we serve,” said Viveracqua President Monica Manto.

“This operation confirms the EIB’s position as one of the biggest water sector financers in Italy. Since the first issue in 2014 we have believed in the potential of Viveracqua’s Hydrobonds, and continue to support them in the conviction that they are an effective instrument to improve local water infrastructure, promote sustainable investments and guarantee tangible benefits for the communities served,” said EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti.

“Much has been done between the first €150 million Hydrobond issue in 2014 and this sixth edition, which has made it possible to reach the milestone of €1 billion in support of the Veneto Region’s integrated water service. Banca Finint, which first paved the way for system operations better known today as basket bonds, did so with the Viveracqua 1 transaction in 2014. In over ten years this instrument has helped finance investments worth more than €2.5 billion in our region. This is an impressive result that could not have been achieved without the support of institutional partners and investors such as the European Investment Bank and SACE,” said Head of Investment Banking Corporate at Banca Finint Alberto Nobili.

The Temporary Grouping of Companies formed by Banca Finint and Cappelli Riolo Calderaro Crisostomo Del Din & Partners acted as arranger, placement agent and legal advisor for the transaction. The EIB was advised by Legance, while SACE was assisted by a dedicated team from Cappelli Riolo Calderaro Crisostomo Del Din & Partners. Pirola Pennuto Zei advised the managers in their deliberation processes.

Background information

Viveracqua is a company grouping together all the public water companies based in Veneto, with each providing water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment services in its service area. Viveracqua member operators serve 580 municipalities (in Veneto and part of Friuli-Venezia Giulia) and a total of 4.7 million residents, with production value of over €1 billion. These members are: Acque del Chiampo, acquevenete, Acque Veronesi, Azienda Gardesana Servizi, Alto Trevigiano Servizi, BIM Gestione Servizi Pubblici, Etra, Livenza Tagliamento Acque, Medio Chiampo, Piave Servizi, Veritas and Viacqua.

The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. Built around eight key priorities, we finance investments that contribute to EU policy objectives by bolstering climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, the capital markets union, and a stronger Europe in a more peaceful and prosperous world.  The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 high-impact projects in 2024, boosting Europe’s competitiveness and security. The EIB Group signed 99 operations totalling €10.98 billion in Italy in 2024, unlocking almost €37 billion of investment in the real economy. All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, as pledged in our Climate Bank Roadmap. Almost 60% of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects directly contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and a healthier environment. Fostering market integration and mobilising investment, the funds made available by the Group unlocked over €100 billion in new investment for Europe’s energy security in 2024 and mobilised a further €110 billion for startups and scale-ups. Around half of the EIB’s financing within the European Union is directed towards cohesion regions, where per capita income is lower than the EU average. High-quality, up-to-date photos of EIB headquarters for media use are available here.

Banca Finint Group is active in the Italian corporate and investment banking, structured finance, asset management and private banking markets. Founded in late 2014, Banca Finint is the culmination of the more than 40 years of financial sector experience of the Finanziaria Internazionale Group, which was founded in 1980 by Enrico Marchi. Banca Finint Group was formed in 2016, with Banca Finint as parent company. Banca Finint specialises primarily in debt capital markets (minibonds and specialised lending), structuring and management of structured finance transactions (covered bonds, basket bonds and securitisations), and advisory for extraordinary finance transactions, supporting local companies and the real economy where it operates. The group is based in Conegliano (Treviso) and has offices in Milan, Rome and Trento.