The group was founded in 1933 and its operations reach beyond national boundaries to areas such as England, France, Poland and South East Asia. It has now become an industry pioneer thanks to the work of group companies Sirma, Italy’s leading producer of refractory components, Vezzani, which produces machines for the disposal of ferrous scrap and S.T.E., foremost in the environmental rehabilitation sector in Italy.

70 years after its foundation, the Group is headed by Chairman Stefano Gavioli and has decided to further boost growth through its listing by summer 2006 on the Borsa Italia Expandi.

The Group has been operating for years as a leading player in the environmental technologies sector. What prompted Sirma to turn to Fortis?

Over the years, Fortis has provided us with financial tools tailored to our needs: a "mixed" line of credit facilitiIes for exports, commercial guarantees, financial instruments to hedge against exchange rate risks, forfeiting operations as well as credit lines to other companies within the group. Working capital financing, in particular, has made it possible for us to devote greater liquidity to R&D (around 7% of our sales each year), and to develop innovative products for distribution on both existing and new markets.

By liaising closely with Fortis and benefiting from its widespread coverage, we now feel even more confident to tackle emerging countries which are potentially very important in the development of our business: our foothold in new markets in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe is a concrete example of this.

How has Fortis Bank supported your path to growth?

Fortis Bank was one of the few banks which believed in our expansion plan and helped us to achieve it. From the very outset, Fortis agreed on the development strategy with us and, thanks to its financial skills, helped us tackle our market more confidently and surely.

Fortis is more a partner than a bank to us: even before suggesting Stock Exchange listing for the company, Fortis constantly provided us with excellent support: first in routine operations (export financing guarantees, collections and payments), followed shortly afterwards by even more complex operations such as currency risk hedging and trade finance operations (primarily export letters of credit). Recently, for example, it helped us in the purchase of a supply of bauxite from China by means of a non-recourse discount transaction, allowing immediate collection by the supplier (a customer of the Fortis Business Centre in Rotterdam) and extended payment terms for Sirma.

Fortis also played an important liaison role by putting us in touch with Banca Intermobiliare, in which it has a 10% share: BIM now acts as listing partner and global coordinator of the company’s listing operation. Another positive aspect is Fortis’ belief in our technological skills. Innovation is the key to the success of the products manufactured and developed by Sirma. Since Fortis believes in our projects’ potential, it has even decided to invest in our R&D activities.

The excellent relations enjoyed from the outset with Sirma have prompted me to extend Fortis’ operations to Vezzani and more recently also to Promoref, a French company which designs and builds incinerators. Vezzani is now a customer of Fortis’ Business Centre Turin and the prospects for developing trade finance operations are good, while Promoref has dealings with Fortis’ Business Centre Paris-Louvre. Here, operations involve advances against invoices and the issue of bank guarantees on sales contracts.

This growth path has given us a solid base to tackle the listing process and to communicate our future business plans to the financial markets.

What benefits and opportunities have been generated by relations with Fortis?

My business calls for great care, ongoing research and innovation to provide customers with an avant-garde product capable of anticipating future demands. Given the globalization of markets, the relations generated by Fortis both in Italy and abroad have been very important for me, as they have allowed me to come into contact with suppliers, partners and individuals who are important to the development of my business.

Our import-export activities, for example, have benefited hugely from the widespread presence and geographical reach of Fortis. In future, there will be many other areas in which Fortis can assist us, such as operations within the energy sector.

What new challenges is the management now faced with?

Continuing to grow and develop our business will continue to be our primary goal. I am confident that we will achieve this goal by looking into new financial resources on the capital markets. The Stock Exchange listing will be a further step allowing us to generate value for our shareholders and to grow internally through the development of new products and externally through acquisitions of small- and medium-sized companies that complement our business. Fortis will undoubtedly help us to scout the various opportunities present on the market.