EIB and Spanish bank provide key funding for innovative SMEs
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a loan of €200m to Bankinter for financing projects implemented primarily by innovative SMEs and midcap companies in Spain.
The loan contract was signed on Thursday by EIB Vice-President Román Escolano and the chief executive of Bankinter, Maria Dolores Dancausa in the Spanish capital Madrid. Bankinter will match the EIB financing with a further €200m, meaning that a total of €400m will be made available to small businesses and midcaps (up to 3,000 employees).
This credit line is intended for the part financing of small and medium-scale projects carried out by SMEs in the industrial and services sectors, with a large part of the project aimed at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and innovative projects. The EIB financing complement a guarantee provided by the European Investment Fund and is backed by Horizon 2020.
The EIB deal will provide innovative companies with long term financing for their investments under favourable conditions. The individual loans will be used to finance investment projects of up to €25m in the case of SMEs, and up to €50m in the case of midcaps in Spain.
In 2014, the EIB Group (including the European Investment Fund) provided €25.5bn in support of some 290,000 SMEs and midcaps throughout Europe. In Spain, the EIB made €7.6bn available in new credit lines for SMEs, benefitting more than 62,000 firms.
