Brussels, 11/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - Last week, the European Investment Bank decided to grant loans for small businesses and mid-cap companies in Portugal and Italy, along with a loan for small businesses in Germany.
For Portugal, the EIB has awarded a loan of €300 million to Banco BPI to finance small and medium-sized projects throughout Portugal mainly undertaken by SMEs and midcaps. Part of it could also be allocated to other entities promoting projects covering mainly energy saving, environmental protection, incentive to innovate (i2i), and infrastructure.
A loan of €200 million has been granted to Banco Popolare in Italy in five new agreements to provide medium and long-term finance and a new guarantee agreement for Italian businesses totalling €385 million. The EIB has also decided to provide a €60 million guarantee to Banco Popolare to back small businesses specialising in innovation and R&D. The bank will co-finance projects in the Industria 2015 programme to a total of €30 million and the National 2007-2013 R&D and competitiveness programme (a loan of €25 million). A business network will get a loan of €20 million, and rebuilding work in Emilia-Romagna after the earthquake in May will receive a €50 million loan.
On 4 December, the EIB joined forces with DZ Bank and VR Leasing to make €100 million available for small businesses with accounts at small German banks (Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken). The loan will provide finance to back small business projects which are highly innovative but which, due to their small size, are unable to raise cash on the capital markets. (OL/transl.fl)