Publish Date : 19-Jan-2018
The EIB Group, composed of the European Investment Bank and its subsidiary the European Investment Fund and the Crdit Agricole Group, are mobilizing to support French SMEs and ETIs with more than 1.1 billion new financing injected into the European Investment Bank. economy through two operations.
The EIB, EIF and Crdit Agricole have finalized a first major operation under the European Investment Plan (Juncker Plan). Thanks to a synthetic securitization carried out by Crdit Agricole CIB, the EIB Group provides French SMEs and ETIs with 830 million in subsidized interest-rate financing, which will be distributed over three years by the Crdit Agricole Regional Banks. An additional envelope of 100 million euros of refinancing consolidates this system.
The second operation is part of the "InnovFin SME Guarantee Facility" program run by the EIF. This agreement between Crdit Agricole Leasing & Factoring and the EIF covers finance and equipment leasing and provides for a two-year guarantee package of 200 million euros for innovative mid-market companies and SMEs.
For Dominique Lefebvre, President of the National Federation of Crdit Agricole and Crdit Agricole SA " These major and innovative operations at the service of French companies reinforce the links between the Crdit Agricole Group and the EIB Group. Thanks to the joint action of several Group entities, more than 1.1 billion euros in allocated funding will boost Crdit Agricole's action in the service of SMEs and midcaps. "
Ambroise Fayolle, EIB Vice-President " This major partnership with Crdit Agricole reflects our strong commitment to business. Thanks to the European guarantee under the Juncker Plan and innovative and attractive financing tools, we are able to accelerate our support to French companies and support them in their development project. Support for SMEs-ETI is a top priority for the EIB Group as they represent a key sector of the EU economy, with 23 million companies employing some 75 million people. SMEs and mid-cap companies are responsible for creating nearly one in two jobs . "
For Pier-Luigi Gilibert, Managing Director of the EIF: " These operations mark a major step in the development of the EIB Group, as it is both the first synthetic securitization and the first InnovFin agreement with Crdit Agricole CIB and Crdit Agricole. Leasing & Factoring respectively. The EIF welcomes the cooperation with the EIB and the Crdit Agricole Group as the regulatory capital thus freed up will be redeployed on new funding for French SME's and on the other hand for innovative SMEs. The EIF's investment and structuring expertise combined with the efficient allocation of EFSI funds by the EIB provides an optimal solution for the Crdit Agricole Group, which will serve to strengthen the financing offer towards the real economy. The signing of these operations between the EIF and Crdit Agricole Group illustrates how EFSI and InnovFin complement and reinforce each other to help SMEs-ETIs grow and create jobs. "
On these operations in detail
An unprecedented subsidy scheme totaling 930 million
As part of the "Juncker Plan", which aims in particular to stimulate investment and promote access to credit for SMEs and midcaps, the EIB Group has set up a financing program based on new methods of intervention, including the rate bonus, complementary to the sole lever of refinancing envelopes.
The scheme, which is based on these two approaches, covers loans linked to tangible and intangible investments of SMEs and mid-cap companies meeting eligibility criteria defined by the EIB in line with the political objectives of the European Union. This device consists of two envelopes:
A 830 million soft loan made available by the EIB for loans with a fixed term of 2 years to 5 years.
This innovative transaction is based on a financial guarantee from the EIF Group of 138 million euros granted by the EIF, on a mezzanine tranche of a portfolio of Crdit Agricole CIB's European Large Account loans of 3 billion euros of notional . In exchange for this guarantee of 138 million euros, Crdit Agricole commits over 3 years to grant to its SME-ETI customers of the Regional Banks 830 million euros of new loans at subsidized rates (ie benefiting from a reduction rate of 0.25%), which is a multiplier of x6 between the amount of the guarantee at risk and the amount of new financing granted by the Crdit Agricole Group to SMEs-ETI, vectors of employment and growth in France.
A 100 million package in traditional refinancing with the EIB completes this scheme.
An additional agreement for a guarantee package of 200 million of finance in soft leasing for SMEs and innovative ETIs over 2 years
CAL & F has just signed a guarantee agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF) to support the development of innovative French small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and intermediate-sized enterprises (ETI). Within the framework of the Juncker agenda, the FEI program "InnovFin SME Guarantee Facility" provides support for finance in mobile leasing for innovative SMEs and ETIs. This guarantee package of 200 million euros over two years will boost activity in this segment of innovative companies. The scheme will be open to Crdit Agricole Group clients (networks of Crdit Agricole Regional Banks and LCL) benefiting from a research tax credit (CIR) or financing from partners targeting innovative assets.
These two transactions come a few weeks after another major transaction concluded by Crdit Agricole Leasing & Factoring in connection with the EIB and the EIF. Indeed, on October 25, a securitization for EFL, a subsidiary of Crdit Agricole Leasing & Factoring in Poland, was finalized for a total amount of 1.8 billion PLN (about 415 million euros). The transaction will support EFL's business development plan by securing its refinancing at a competitive level for the next four years.
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