Agreement Between Crescitalia and BFF Bank to Help Fintech Companies

CrescItalia, an independent fintech advisory that supports the real economy by acting as a hinge between the world of SMEs and the world of finance with alternative financing instruments, has signed an agreement with BFF Bank spa (listed on the Italian Stock Exchange) through which companies assisted by Crescitalia itself will be able to demobilize trade and tax receivables owed by the Public Administration and the National Health System at BFF Bank.

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CrescItalia is also an advisor to Hedge Invest sgr in the management of HI CrescItalia Pmi Fund

More specifically, CrescItalia will enable customers serving the public sector to deconsolidate trade receivables arising from supply contracts related to public tender awards, ensuring benefits in terms of working capital optimization and commercial risk transfer. At the same time, the company will enable companies to demobilize large portfolios of tax receivables due from the tax authorities, obtaining immediate liquidity to be allocated to core business.

Since 2019, thanks to its proprietary platform, Crescitalia has also performed servicing activities to accompany institutional investors in the evaluation and management of trade receivables. In addition, Crescitalia is an advisor to Hedge Invest sgr in the management of HI CrescItalia Pmi Fund, a closed-end reserved fund that since 2015 has been investing in bonds (for example, the 3 million bond of road builder 2p Asfalti) and direct loans (as in the case of the 2 million lent last August to Agristar Agricultural Services) to small and medium-sized Italian companies with strong management skills and entrepreneurial activism. CrescItalia also launched the fintech platform CrescItalia Lab, used to select investments for the SGT Crescitalia Invoice Fund, managed by Sagitta sgr, a subsidiary of Arrow Global.

Last December, CrescItalia placed a €5 million minibond on the Vienna Stock Exchange, with a 5-year term and annual interest of 5 percent, with semi-annual coupons. The minibond was fully placed at issuance with professional investors. MIT sim acted as financial advisor and arranger of the transaction.

Mattia Donadeo Spada, managing director of CrescItalia, commented, “This partnership with BFF is the first one launched following CrescItalia’s registration in the Register of Credit Brokers, and it is aimed at offering SMEs a complete and complementary range of services. For this, we wanted to rely on a player with consolidated experience, with the ultimate goal of guaranteeing our client companies access to all the best solutions on the market. In this framework, our fintech platform is the key element to ensure maximum efficiency, speed and security in the settlement of receivables.”

Michele Antognoli, Vice President Factoring & Lending at BFF Bank added, “The agreement with CrescItalia is a new opportunity to support Public Administration supplier companies with our factoring and credit management services in the current economic context, so that they can seize the opportunities arising from strategic initiatives such as, for example, PNRR.”

BFF Banking Group is the largest specialized finance operator in Italy and a leader in Europe in the management and non-recourse factoring of trade receivables due from Public Administrations, and in Italy in Securities Services and Payment Services. As anticipated in June by BeBeez, the group would appear to have ticked off the exclusive deal for control of Banca Progetto, an Italian challenger bank specializing in services for SMEs, and since December 2015 54 percent controlled by the Californians of Oaktree Capital Management, who according to reports in Il Sole 24 Ore already in the coming weeks could make a final decision on the sale (an alternative route to a stock market listing).

The BFF group also acquired control of DepoBank in March 2021 from the same private equity funds, which are still minority shareholders in Nexi, the paytech that before listing on the Milan Stock Exchange in July 2018 had precisely spun off its depository banking activities in DepoBank. Those same funds, namely Hourglass, Advent, and Bain Capital, then reinvested for a minority in BFF. The latter was long controlled by the British fund Centerbridge Partners, which in February 2021 then finally exited the shareholding by selling n accelerated book building its remaining 6.9 percent

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(Featured image by Edar via Pixabay)

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