The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Andalusian company Cunext have signed a loan worth 30 million euros to finance the construction of a plant in Córdoba that will manufacture copper cathodes, a strategic material, from copper anodes. copper from recycled materials. The planned investment in the factory is 230 million euros, according to data made public in a recent public intervention by the company’s president, Dámaso Quintana.
In October, Cunext already obtained other 30 million from the Ministry of Industry and Tourism through PERTE of industrial decarbonization for this project, and also benefits from incentives from the Junta de Andalucía for an amount of 5.3 millions. The expectations also benefit the supplier supply chain, for which Banco Sabadell has enabled a confirming of 12 million euros linked to sustainability.
In 2023, the Córdoba company signed 150 million euros in financing through a sustainable syndicated factoring contract with Banco Santander. This structure was designed so that the group, dedicated to the manufacture of copper and aluminum conductors, can finance its treasury needs in a “flexible, efficient and adapted to the reality of its sales” way, linked to achieving “greater environmental efficiency” as the company increases the use of secondary copper in its production process.
Circular economy
Its new ‘green’ copper factory, based on state-of-the-art electrolysis technology, allows it to produce high purity copper through recycled materials and replace a significant part of the primary copper (from mines) currently used as raw material for the production of wire rod and other products.
With this operation, the EIB promotes the transition towards a circular economy, supporting more sustainable copper production and the value chain of raw materials essential for the strategic autonomy of the EU. The EIB loan will help finance the high initial investment needs of the project and to adapt tos long recovery periods of this one. The financing has been made with the support of the program InvestEU.
“With this loan, the EIB supports the sustainable production of metals that are strategic for the economy and industrial autonomy of the EU, such as copper,” he commented. Antonio Lorenzo head of the Corporate Financing Division in Spain of the EIB “The investment we made today with Cunext will increase the incorporation of recycled materials in the metals value chain, promote the circular economy and contribute significantly to the green transition.”
Damaso Quintana
For its part, Damaso Quintana, president of the Cunext group, considers the signing of this loan as “decisive and fundamental support from the EIB, which will improve the sustainability, in its broadest sense, of the copper business line, while facilitating the execution of the project”.
Cunext, founded in 1917 to manufacture copper wire, is today a category with interests in wind, transport or racking for logistics centers, with 3,000 million euros of turnover, 29 manufacturing facilities worldwide and more than 5,000 direct jobs.
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