Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and the European Investment Fund have signed an agreement to enhance the operational capacity of the Guarantee Fund for Italian SMEs.
In detail, CDP will provide the fund with 3 billion euros of counter-guarantees on a portfolio with a total value of 3,75 billion euros.
“The financial resources that CDP will channel – obtained through the European COSME (Competitiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) Program managed by the EIF – will make it possible to disburse up to 5,8 billion in loans in favor of 65 small and medium-sized enterprises operating in almost all product sectors, and will activate new investments for an estimated total of around 8 billion euros”, explains the company in a note.
The one that has just been launched is the second operation that CDP carries out for the SME fund and, underlines the company, "represents the most significant intervention carried out in a single European country". In 18 months, loans of 4,1 billion were disbursed, which triggered 5,7 billion of investments.
Fabrizio Palermo¸ CEO of CDP declared: "Support for small and medium-sized enterprises is one of the main objectives of the 2019-2021 Business Plan, and the agreement signed today represents an important step in this direction. Thanks to the close collaboration with all the institutions involved, CDP - leveraging European resources - contributes to consolidating the Guarantee Fund for SMEs, a decisive tool for supporting business investments, the true engine of the country's growth".
