EIB and ING Belgium sign InnovFin Midcap Guarantee agreement

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and ING Belgium have signed an agreement under the InnovFin Midcap Guarantee programme to facilitate and increase lending to innovative companies in Belgium.

With the EIB bringing a guarantee of up to €150m, ING Belgium, a full subsidiary of ING Bank N.V., will be able to provide a total of €300m to innovative companies. It will rely upon this programme to increase its lending capacity, and to offer new loans to midcap customers carrying out R&D and innovative projects.

The guarantee is based on risk sharing and intends to encourage growth and competitiveness in Europe. It will cover up to 50% of an ING loan, with a cap of €25m per project, thereby providing reliable, long term financing to R&D companies with fewer than 3,000 employees.

Midcaps should thus be able to more easily access finance for their innovative projects.

Pim Van Ballekom, EIB vice-president, highlighted the strengths of the InnovFin Midcap Guarantee at the signing event: “Belgium, and Europe as a whole, needs more risk taking when it comes to investing in innovation.

“This new instrument gives EIB partners such as ING Belgium the opportunity to strengthen their support to companies more quickly and with more flexibility, and to finance overall a broader spectrum of much-needed projects.”

Erik Van Den Eynden, head of mid-corporates and institutionals at ING Bank Belgium, described the agreement as being “totally in line with the Think Forward strategy of ING Belgium”.

He added: “We are glad that the European Investment Bank has given us again the opportunity in supporting us to empower our clients to stay a step ahead by giving them the possibility to invest in innovative research and development projects, even in a challenging economic context.”

The ING Belgium facility is supported by the European Commission under Horizon 2020, as well as the ‘InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators Midcap Guarantee’ instrument.

InnovFin is a new range of EIB Group products designed to facilitate access to finance for innovative businesses.