Minibond as a public guarantee, the World Bank studies the Campania model

The World Bank has sent two researchers to Campania to study in the field the effects of the measure wanted by the Campania Region – Campania Bond Guarantee – which, through a virtuous collaboration between public and private, has allowed 65 companies from Campania to access the capital market, also stimulating a path of managerial growth of the entrepreneurial system.

It is precisely the mix of direct and indirect benefits deriving from the use of the financial instrument devised by Sviluppo Campania – an in-house company of the Campania Region – that underlies the interest of the World Bank, which is considering developing a research project to be submitted to the central services of the Agency, based in Washington, to assess the actual impact of the economic policy instrument with a view to its replicability in other contexts, also in the light of the collaboration with the European Commission to improve the effectiveness of smart specialisation programmes in the EU.

To this end, the researchers went, in the company of the Department of Production Activities of the Campania Region and Campania Development, to some of the Campania companies that completed the path provided for by the measure by activating financing operations, through the issuance of Minibonds, assisted by a public guarantee.

Thanks to these meetings, the researchers were able to better understand the multiple results deriving from the use of the Campania Bond Guarantee. First of all, its composition. A balanced mix of resources divided between: working capital, tangible and intangible investments.

Another aspect highlighted by the entrepreneurs was the advantageous rates and the fast time to complete the process, stressing that in the banking market it is practically impossible to receive a credit opening similar to the conditions received. The public guarantee offered by the Campania Region and supported by European funds weighed heavily on this last aspect.

In addition, completing the path has meant the systematization and certification of practices and procedures that have expanded the internal financial know-how of the same companies. This is the "intangible" component of the incentive to growth and organizational-managerial strengthening linked to this alternative finance instrument, which for many has represented only an initial experience of access to finance. capital market.

Finally, given that it has not been underestimated by researchers, adherence to the measure has allowed the companies involved not only to protect employment levels, in a period of difficulty due to the pandemic first and then the energy crisis, but also to expand the workforce.

The Campania Bond Guarantee project, which involves Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Mediocredito Centrale as investors, has reached the issue of €144.1 million of Minibonds, of which over €36 million is covered by a public guarantee from resources of the 2014-2020 Campania ERDF ROP. The intervention concerned all the provinces, Naples and Salerno in the lead, and involved numerous sectors, Manufacturing, Agri-Food and Digital/Software, with priority being given to health, energy, logistics/transport, clothing, construction/infrastructure and automotive.