Brussels, 18/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the OSEO, a French public body in charge of supporting innovation and growth among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, has just signed a credit line of €160 million to support SMEs in France.
The credit line the EIB has granted to the OSEO includes: €100 million for funding material and non-material investment (R&D, marketing and the setting up of trade networks) and funding requirements for the functioning of innovative companies during their sustained development phase; €60 million for financing the creation of micro-enterprises of less than 10 employees in industry and services. The joint EIB and OSE intervention, co-funded with other banking institutions, aims to help complete the funding plans for dynamic SMEs and conclude their investment. It is part of the EIB support framework for European SMEs and is born out of the current economic and financial crisis. It aims to grant more than €30bn in loans to SMEs in the EU via the intermediary of the banks by 2011. (O.L./trans/rh)