The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Intesa Sanpaolo Group, a banking group based in Italy, have concluded four new agreements totalling € 470m aimed at providing medium to long-term financing to Italian businesses.
Reportedly, under this EIB credit line of €470m, four areas of business that will involve specific companies in the Intesa Sanpaolo Group have been identified. Apart from the loans for SMEs, which will be managed by Mediocredito Italiano and Leasint, a part of the loan will be made available to the Risk Sharing Finance Facility project, part to mid-caps for their energy-saving or R&D programmes, and part for tertiary sector operations.
The bank has claimed that €300m will be earmarked for Italian SMEs. The loans will be granted exclusively for SME projects via Mediocredito Italiano, the Intesa Sanpaolo Group’s company specialising in medium and long-term SME financing and Leasint, the group’s leasing arm.
€100m will go towards supporting mid-cap investments in the energy, environment or R&D sectors. A further €50m is to be made available under the joint EIB/Intesa Sanpaolo Risk Sharing Finance Facility programme – an initiative between the EIB and a commercial bank – which involves a €100m ‘pilot project’ entrusted to Mediocredito Italiano. The project aims to stimulate investment to develop new technologies and will enable the EIB and Intesa Sanpaolo to share the credit risk vis-à-vis enterprises involved in such investments. Lastly, Banca Prossima, the bank of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group specialising in social enterprise and non-profit sector financing, will receive €20m.
Dario Scannapieco, EIB vice-president with responsibility for financing operations in Italy, Malta and the Western Balkans, said: “I wish to emphasise the importance of the new loans under the Risk Sharing Finance Facility model, which enable us to share the credit risk vis-à-vis the final beneficiaries with Intesa Sanpaolo and pass responsibility for the appraisal to the Italian banking group.”
