European loans and contributions

03 Nov European loans and contributions

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union’s financial institution which operates as a development bank.

Its funds come from transactions on the capital market and its shareholders, the EU Member States, who subscribe to the capital.

Through the provision of loans and guarantees, the EIB facilitates the creation of public and/ or private investments and aims to attract other funding to the support projects it promotes.

These projects may be of a different nature, but must pursue one of the following objectives:

• the development of underdeveloped regions of the EU;
• the modernisation of enterprises and the creation of new activities that cannot be fully financed from national resources;

Projects financed by the IEB
IEB projects generally fall within one of the following areas:

• investments of job-creating enterprises;
• construction/modernisation of transport infrastructure (railways, airlines, road links, bridges, etc.);
• production, transfer and distribution of energy (e.g. heating gas);
• programs for a more efficient use of energy and alternative energy sources (wind, etc.);
• infrastructure telecommunications;
• natural and urban environmental plans (water, waste, pollution reduction, transport, etc.);
• industrial projects in the manufacturing sector (motor vehicles, pharmaceutical, aviation equipment, chemicals, etc.).

The EIB’s lending activities are conducted not only in the EU but also in third world countries, and in particular in Mediterranean countries, Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific, Asia and in Latin America.

The Bank directly manages procedures relating to projects with a value equal to or greater than 25 million Euros.

EIF – European Investment Fund
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is the support and financing body for small and medium- sized enterprises. The EIF does not directly finance SMEs, but operates solely through financial intermediaries.

The EIF provides venture capital for small businesses through venture capital funds and business incubators to support SMEs, acting as a guarantor for loans and guarantees granted to businesses by banks and other financial institutions.
The Fund operates in two ways:

• investments in shares issued by the company
• guarantees to financial institutions that grant loans to SME

Beneficiaries
Small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the European Union, candidate countries for which the process of accession is already in progress, EFTA and European Union neighbouring countries in the case of cross-border projects can all access funding.

The Guarantee Fund for Italian SMEs is dedicated to:

• SMEs that are assessed as “economically and financially sound”
• SMEs in all production sectors with the exception of the primary production of agricultural products, transport, shipbuilding, automotive industry.
• SMEs operating in the agricultural sector (ATECO activity codes 2002 01.40, 01.50, 02.00) SMEs registered with the Chamber of Commerce
• SMEs with a Loss/Turnover ratio of no more than -5%