The Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) Group has recently announced plans to issue €4 billion (US$4.5 billion) in credit lines to support major infrastructure, oil & gas, and transport projects​ in Iran. 

More concretely, CDP along with its subsidiaries SACE and SIMEST is supporting Italian exports to Iran through a series of common integrated initiatives in a government mission headed by the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. 

The infrastructure initiative consist of €4 billion in credit lines issued by CDP under the “export bank” system to Iranian sovereign counter-parties in conjunction with the system of credit intermediaries. The objective is to support major projects in infrastructure, oil & gas, and transport commissioned to large Italian companies with the involvement of a broad spectrum of SME suppliers

Additionally, SACE and SIMEST are supporting Italian exports to the country through two other common integrated initiatives:

• € 4 billion in guarantees from SACE on those credit lines, with the collaboration of SIMEST to stabilize the interest rate.

• € 800 million to revive the business of Italian SMEs within the country. This will be achieved through two SACE’s initiatives to support the competitiveness of the Italian SMEs in short- and medium-term transactions.

The initiatives come on the heels of an agreement to recover €564 million (US$635 million) sovereign credits owed to SACE by the Central Bank of Iran, to cover compensation paid to Italian companies for imports unpaid due to the block of the payments system imposed by international sanctions.

This agreement has enabled SACE, the insurance-financial company of the CDP Group, to be the first export credit company to re-launch underwriting activities in support of exports to and investments in the country.

These initiatives are part of the support to export and internationalization, which is one of the four pillars included in the 2016-2020 business plan of the CDP Group, as catalysts of growth for Italy. The objective is to increase support to Italian companies in part through the creation of a one-door service at SACE for accessing all the products and services of the Group to develop international markets.