SGEF takes lead in sustainability, and extends global reach

Society General Equipment Finance (SGEF) has underlined the breadth of its commitment to sustainable financing, announcing an award for the lender’s Italian subsidiary during the recent SGEF Annual Meeting. SGEF Italy was recognised for the positive impact of two deals, one for a leading European player in wind turbine installation, and the other for Italy’s largest agricultural company.

The first deal, instigated last year, saw SGEF Italy provide financing in a project involving the crane rental company Fratelli Paradiso, which has focused its activities on the growing renewable energy market in recent years and is one of the leading European players in wind turbine installation. Paradiso has purchased specialist lattice boom mobile crane equipment from Liebherr which it is using primarily for assembly of wind turbines.

In the second initiative, SG Leasing has formed a partnership with advanced energy solutions specialist Enel X for new and sustainable businesses, mainly focused on photovoltaic (PV) panels and EV charging stations. In January 2022, this partnership signed a first deal with Genagricola for PV panels reducing carbon footprint.

Genagricola, Generali Italia’s agri-food holding company, is Italy’s largest agricultural company with 22 farms in Italy and three abroad, with a total of 15,000 cultivated hectares. It is a leader in five areas including livestock and arable farming, energy production from renewable sources, viticulture and forestation. It has the stated aim of becoming the first zero-impact Italian agricultural company.

An initial report from Enel found Genagricola could maximize its use of energy from renewable sources through the construction of PV systems with an approximate capacity of 1.2 MW, combined with a consumption measurement and control system allowing energy to be managed and optimized to minimize waste. The conversion of the company fleet to electric vehicles has already begun, which will be accompanied by the installation of 42 charging stations.

It emerged from the report that by improving the impact of individual activities, Genagricola will be able to raise its average level of energy circularity at all the sites analyzed from the current 19% to around 38%, through the use of renewables, better energy management and circular enablers, leading to a reduction of environmental impact in terms of CO2 emissions, equal to 12,000 tons over the next 20 years solely as a result of energy-related activities.

Further expansion

In other developments, SGEF announced it has signed a regional co-operation agreement with Quadrent, Australasia’s leading asset financier and lease accounting software provider.

The agreement appoints Quadrent as SGEF partner in the region to provide finance solutions for global equipment manufacturers and distributors in Australia and New Zealand, supporting the sale of the equipment to their customers.

Florence Roussel-Pollet, SGEF chief commercial officer explained: “Quadrent shares our commitment to customers and will enable us to offer a truly global service. We are supporting our international vendors in more than 35 locations in Europe, Americas, Africa and Asia. To keep accompanying our vendors’ strategy, we were eager to partner with a major leasing actor in Australia and New Zealand.”

Quadrent’s CEO, Marty Masteron added: “Without a doubt we are very excited to be partnering with SGEF in this part of the world. Our culture of creating high levels of customer advocacy, building long-term mutually beneficial relationships and offering funding flexibility, all align with the SGEF culture and the global vendors they support.”