Wineskin 4,3 billion in new financing to almost 50 thousand Italian small and medium enterprises to support competitiveness and investments in all sectors, with particular attention to education, training and culture. This is the objective of the agreement between the European Investment Fund (FEI, part of the EIB Group) e Cassa Depositi e Prestiti thanks to the guarantee Invest EU, the European Commission's program that helps mobilize investments to support EU priorities. The agreement was signed in Rome by the CEO of CDP Dario Scannapieco and by the President of the EIF and Vice President of the EIB Jasmine Vigliotti.
In the last three years, EIF and CDP have signed 4 operations for approximately 1,2 billion in resources, helping to activate financing for over 15 billion in favor of over 55 thousand SMEs in Italy.
The CDP-FEI agreement
Thanks to the support of the European Commission programme, explains a note, the EIF will provide a counter-guarantee of 120 million on advantageous conditions to Cdp, which in turn will offer guarantees to Italian financial institutions to facilitate access to credit for SMEs. This mechanism will make it possible to generate an estimated leverage effect of 36 times - calculated on the basis of the ratio between the developable financing and the amount of the EIF's first loss guarantee - which will allow the banking system to activate financing for over 4,3 billion of euros to support almost 50 thousand SMEs.
With the resources made available by the EIF, CDP will launch three new lines of guarantee dedicated to supporting SMEs in investments in competitiveness, culture and education. In detail, it is estimated that the financing of over 4,3 billion that the banking system will grant to businesses will be divided as follows: over 3 billion to be dedicated to the competitiveness of SMEs, more than 1 billion for the cultural and creative sector and around 300 million for that of education.
Comments
“Thanks to this operation, we further consolidate the collaboration between the EIB Group and CDP, a fundamental partnership to support the economic growth and competitiveness of the Italian entrepreneurial fabric – he commented Villiotti -. Thanks to the guarantees provided by the EIF in the last three years, CDP has managed to support access to credit at advantageous conditions for over 55 thousand small and medium-sized businesses in Italy".
“CDP's role in supporting the Italian economy in partnership with the banking system – he added Scannapieco – has grown in recent years also through the solid collaboration with the EIF. In fact, the operation announced today, thanks to optimal use of European resources, will allow us to further expand our commitment in Italy in favor of the growth and investments of SMEs, the driving force of the country's economy".