MM SpA: Integrated Water Service Investments and Financing Strategy for the City of Milan

Abstract

In such a peculiar territory as the City of Milan, endowed with high anthropization levels and high infrastructural density, the definition of a long-term investment strategy for the Integrated Water Service represents a very significant challenge. MM S.p.A., the multiservice company of the Municipality of Milan who is in charge of the IWS management, has developed an integrated strategic approach for entirely covering both the Uses and Sources pillars with reference to the investment included in the current ATO Plan, which will last until 2037. On the Uses side, the articulation of planned interventions has been defined, paying attention to innovation and environmental and social impact mitigation, also considering soft skills and factors that enable investment. On the Sources side, MM has implemented a long-term diversified financial strategy to obtain total coverage for investments up to 2037, avoiding refinancing risk and implementing innovative financial instruments for the Italian water sector, such as long-term amortizing notes listed on a regulated market and an EIB financing based on the EFSI (Juncker Plan) scheme, thus being the first signed EFSI project in Italy solely dedicated to water investments. These actions have also been made possible thanks to the length of its concession scheme and to the evolution of water industry regulation, which has been appreciated by institutional investors.