(Tiper Stock Exchange) – Highways for Italy celebrates 60 years sinceissue of the first Eurobond in the history of the financial markets, with a event organized by the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. In fact, the company was the first to open the market to these innovative financial instruments and, today, is still a protagonist in the field of sustainable finance as part of a huge plan to regenerate the infrastructure system in Italy. “Autostrade was a pioneer in the world of Finance by opening the Eurobond market in 1963 to finance, with an innovative instrument, the construction of the country’s motorway network – declared the CFO of Autostrade per l’Italia Piergiorgio Peluso – our priority today is to cover all the refinancing needs of the Company engaged in the modernization and upgrading of the infrastructures developed in the 60s and 70s, to meet the present and future needs of mobility, which is increasingly safe, innovative and green. Our commitment – continues Peluso – is to maintain the credibility Autostrade has acquired over the years on the international debt markets, maintaining a healthy and balanced financial structure, recognized as investment grade by the main rating agencies”.
History, the Highway System Development Plan of the 1960s – In the 1960s, Italy saw traffic in a very rapid expansion phase: the “Highway system development plan” envisaged huge investments to complete the branching of the country’s highways, through the construction of a Tyrrhenian line, a central infrastructure and a Adriatic director. The A1 Milan-Naples, the almost 800 km backbone of the country, was built in record time in just 8 years with cutting-edge engineering solutions. In this context, in July 1963, it was Autostrade itself that issued the first “Eurobond” in the history of the financial markets. It was a 15-year bond, with a fixed rate yield of 5.5%, for USD 15 million. The bond was guaranteed by IRI and placed on the European market.
The challenge today – As in the 60s, the world of mobility is going through a phase of new profound and rapid changes: from the technological revolution driven by the energy transition, to the development of driver support technologies up to assisted, autonomous and connected driving. Today Aspi is putting in place a huge plan to continue modernizing and strengthening the network with the aim of extending the useful life of the infrastructures, strengthening their resilience. For this reason, Autostrade issued two Sustainability Linked Bonds in 2023, the margin of which is linked to the achievement of specific objectives relating to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the installation of charging points for electric vehicles along the motorway network.