Sofidel
“Can a privately-held tissue paper manufacturer embed ESG-linked finance and multi-country spend automation into its operations to sustain premium access to capital and operational efficiency at scale?”
Founded1966
HQPorcari, Lucca, Italy
FoundersEmi Stefani, Giuseppe Lazzareschi
Latest roundPrivate Debt (Sustainability-Linked Loans from multiple banks)
IndustryManufacturing / Consumer Goods
The story
Founded in 1966 as a tissue paper manufacturer in Tuscany, Sofidel has grown into the second-largest tissue paper producer in Europe with operations across 17 countries. The company has leaned heavily into sustainable finance, structuring its corporate borrowing as sustainability-linked loans tied to ESG targets. On the operational finance side, it adopted Soldo for multi-country T&E and corporate spend management across its 7,000+ workforce.
Product timeline
1966
Founded in Porcari, Italy by the Stefani and Lazzareschi families as a tissue paper manufacturer.· pivot
2008
Joined WWF as first Italian manufacturer and first tissue sector company globally to partner on forest stewardship.· pivot
2010
Production capacity reached 940,000 tonnes annually; company adopted UN Global Compact principles.· pivot
2015
Production capacity grew to 1,050,000 tonnes per year.· pivot
2023
Closed multiple sustainability-linked loans (Crédit Agricole Italia, ING Italia, BayernLB) tied to ESG KPIs including CO2 reduction and plastic packaging reduction.· lending
The stack
0 layers disclosed in Sofidel’s embedded-finance stack
Accounting gap: none