Il European Investment Fund has signed an agreement with Finint Investments to enter in the private debt fund “PMI Italia II”. The Fei will invest 30 million euros, bringing the Fund's economic availability to 110 million. The funding target is 150 million euros by June 2020.
Pmi Italia II is a private debt closed-end fund, reserved for qualified investors. The EIF's investment will mainly be used to purchase debt instruments bonds of small and medium-sized enterprises based in Italyand will have a maximum duration of nine years, with an investment period of three.
"Thanks to the agreements under the investment plan for Europe, 300 SMEs are already benefiting from better access to finance in Italy - he commented Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for the Economy – However, small and medium-sized enterprises still face many challenges in getting the funds they need to grow, develop and hire more staff. The agreement concluded today is a further step forward and guarantees that SMEs can resort to effective alternative financing solutions”.
“For an operator like us, who aims to bring the capital market to Italian SMEs – he said Mauro Sbroggiò, CEO of Finint Investments – The PMI Italia II Fund can now count among its cornerstone investors the Italian Investment Fund and the European Investment Fund. Furthermore, we plan to launch a private equity fund and we hope to replicate the positive experiences and satisfactions that private debt has given us in contributing to the growth and development of Italian SMEs".
“The objective of this operation is to support the growing private credit market throughout Europe – he said Alain Godard, CEO of the European Investment Fund – For small businesses, diversified debt funds represent a financial alternative to classic bank loans: a good opportunity for the new challenges that businesses will have to face in the coming months and years”.
