MetalNRG PLC on Tuesday congratulated Eqtec PLC as the latter celebrated the pending drawdown of a loan to finance its plant in Tuscany.

Shares in Eqtec were trading 57% higher on Tuesday in London at 3.53 pence. MetalNRG shares were down 3.0% at 0.046p each.

Eqtec, a thermochemical conversion technology company based in Cork, Ireland, confirmed that Rome-based lender Banca del Fucino SpA has approved its drawdown of the €2.9 million loan facility.

Eqtec said the facility will provide funding for its subsidiary Eqtec Italia MDC Srl. Italia MDC owns the Italy Market Development Centre, a waste-to-energy plant in Gallina, Tuscany.

Banca del Fucino confirmed the approval following its visit to the plant last week, after Eqtec Italia ‘completed a series of operational performance improvements and achieved the performance criteria set by the lender’.

Eqtec Italia plans to ‘imminently’ draw down the facility to support the plant’s business plan, as well as further performance improvements. Part of it will also go towards repayment of shareholder loans which have to date funded the project.

Eqtec noted that the plant has been operational since March. It handed over operations to Italia MDC in June.

Chief Executive Officer David Palumbo said Eqtec was ‘delighted to have achieved this significant milestone’.

‘The financing by Banca del Fucino, a traditional, primary lender, indicates their confidence in our business proposition and underlines their investment strategy toward new energy solutions and supporting innovation,’ he added.

Also on Tuesday, MetalNRG said it was ‘pleased’ by the news. The London-based natural resources and energy investor in 2021 joined an Eqtec-led consortium with two other partners, to contribute to an €2.1 million aggregate investment in the Tuscany plant.

‘I am delighted with the facility draw down and congratulate the Eqtec Italia team on a well done job,’ commented MetalNRG Executive Director Rolf Gerritsen.

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