The European Investment Fund (EIF) and the BPER Group, advised by Finanziaria Internazionale, have signed a guarantee agreement to increase lending to innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small mid-caps in Italy. This is the first transaction in Italy to benefit from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) through which the Investment Plan for Europe will be deployed by the European Commission and the EIB Group.
The new agreement will allow the BPER Group (i.e. BPER Banca, Banco di Sardegna and Banca di Sassari) to provide EUR 100m of loans to innovative companies in Italy over the next 2 years. The loans will be enabled by an EIF guarantee under the EU InnovFin finance for Innovators initiative with financial backing from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme. The agreement signed today in Italy will make it possible for BPER to offer innovative companies additional financing at favourable conditions.
