Call for Expression of Interest to select a Fund Manager that will receive resources from the EIF acting as Trustee of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance funds under the G43 Anatolian Venture Capital Fund Project

Ref. n.: Call for EoI No. IPA-001/1

Introduction

This initiative refers to the establishment of a small and medium sized enterprise (“SME”)-focused risk capital fund (also referred to as “G43 Anatolian Venture Capital Fund” or the “Fund”). The support for the creation of the G43 Anatolian Venture Capital Fund is referred to as the “Regional Component” under Istanbul Venture Capital Initiative (“iVCi”). This Project entails a co-investment agreement utilising Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) funds together with Istanbul Venture Capital Initiative (“iVCi”) in the support of such a Fund dedicated to make investments in “SMEs”.

The creation of this Fund is an example of the kind of activities that aims to expand the role of the private sector in the economy maintaining its priority in the macroeconomic stability programme of the government[1]. In particular, this Project supports the current work on the Communiqué that is being put together to enable the establishment of risk capital investment funds in Turkey.[2]

The Project is aimed at addressing the objectives of Measure 1.2 of the first priority axis under the Regional Competitiveness Operational Programme (RCOP), which is one of the basic implementation documents for IPA of the European Union. Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey is the Operating Structure (OS) for the RCOP. Functions and responsibilities of the OS in regard to the implementation of the Operational Programme are stipulated in Article 28 of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 of 12 June 2007.

Measure 1.2 under RCOP deals with the Creation and Development of Financing Instruments and entails the enhancement of the financial environment in the Target Region by supporting credit guarantee funds, micro-loan funds and equity finance mechanisms like risk capital funds including seed and start-up capital and other forms of financial instruments serving the enterprises.

In addition, Improving Competitiveness and Ensuring Regional Development are two of the five key economic and social development axes of the National Development Plan (NDP) of Turkey. Among the measures to be undertaken under the Improving Competitiveness Strategy, Measure 5.2.1 is that of improving the business environment. Under Item 375 of this measure, it states that “access of enterprises, particularly of SMEs, to loans, will be facilitated through the development of risk capital and credit guarantee systems”.[3]

This Call for Expression of Interest is being published in accordance with the Contribution Agreement signed between the EIF and the Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU) of the Republic of Turkey. The CFCU is the Contracting Authority taking the responsibility for the overall budgeting, tendering, contracting, payments, accounting and financial reporting aspects of all procurement in the context of the EU funded programmes in Turkey.

This Call for Expression of Interest targets financial engineering instruments referred to in Article 159 of Reg. 718/2007[4] and is addressed to bodies or firms, whether public or private, which are interested in receiving resources out of IPA for the activities in respect of Operations (hereinafter “Financial Intermediaries”). Such activities shall be carried out in accordance with the contractual agreements to be entered into by the EIF and the selected Financial Intermediaries (hereinafter, “Operational Agreement(s)”).

The Financial Intermediaries should express their interest by completing and submitting an Expression of Interest, a template of which is to be found in Annex 1.

1.     Definitions and Interpretation In this Call for Expression of Interest, capitalised terms and expressions shall have the meaning attributed to them below, unless otherwise defined above or the context requires otherwise. In addition to the above, the table below should be read in accordance with the meaning attributed to certain technical and industry-specific terms by Commission Regulation (EC) No. 800/2008 of 6 August 2008 (General block exemption Regulation) (“Reg. 800/2008”).    

 

 

 

3. Description of the activities expected from the selected Financial Intermediary

The selected Financial Intermediary will have to implement the Financial Instrument. The Financial Instrument shall be set up either as an independent legal entity governed by agreements between the co-financing partners or shareholders or as a separate block of finance within a Financial Intermediary.

It is planned to allocate out of the IPA resources an amount of ≈ EUR 14 million to the Financial Instrument. iVCi would co-invest into the Fund an amount of ≈ EUR 2 million. Hence, an estimated amount of ≈ EUR 16 million would be committed to the Fund.  

To be noted that joint ventures and/or consortia can express their interest, as long as they indicate/nominate one coordinating entity as a contractual counterpart for the EIF for the entire term of the Operational Agreement (in case of selection). Such Applicants are required to submit one, joint Expression of Interest.

4. Expression of Interest

A template for the Expression of Interest is to be found in Annex 1.    

The Expression of Interest shall include the Applicant’s identification, the Project Description, the supporting documents, the Declaration of absence of conflict of interest and the Statements regarding situations of exclusion.

No later than 15 February 2012, the Applicants may request clarifications regarding the Call for Expression of Interest or the nature of the Financial Instrument. Such requests must indicate the Call for Expression of Interest reference number (IPA-001/1) and the name of the Applicant and shall be submitted in English via e-mail to:  

Regional Business Development Unit, European Investment Fund, info.rbd@eif.org

 Requests for clarifications from Applicants shall not receive individual replies. Instead, answers to all requests for clarifications received within the relevant deadline will be published together in a Clarification Document to be posted on the website www.eif.org, latest on 24 February 2012.

EIF will, in principle, not contact any Applicant prior to the Deadline, unless it considers it necessary to clarify issues of a mere technical nature. However, should EIF discover any errors, inaccuracies, omissions or any other type of clerical defect in the text of the Call for Expression of Interest before the Deadline, EIF will correct the text and inform accordingly.

5. Language

The Expressions of Interest, including the submitted documents, shall be in English only.

6. Submission of Expression of Interest

The Expressions of Interest shall be submitted on or before the Deadline both by (i) e-mail and (ii) registered mail or professional courier service. The Expressions of Interest sent by registered mail or professional courier service shall consist of a closed single package, and shall contain the Expression of Interest, together with its attachments, in paper form and in removable electronic storage medium (e.g. CD-ROM).

The Deadline for the submission of Expressions of Interest is 20 March 2012.  

The Deadline applies (i) in case of e-mails, to the reception by EIF and (ii) in case of registered mail or professional courier service, to the date of dispatch proven by the post office stamp or a dispatch receipt.

The Expressions of Interest shall indicate the reference number of the Call (No. IPA-001/1) and the name of the Applicant and shall be sent to the following address:  

Postal Address:

European Investment Fund

Attention: Regional Business Development Unit

96 Boulevard Konrad Adenauer

L-2968 Luxembourg

LUXEMBOURG

 The outer envelope (package) shall indicate the following:

“Expression of Interest – Reference number of the Call (No. IPA-001/1) – Not to be opened by the reception – To be passed without opening to the Regional Business Development Unit.”

 E-mail Address:

Attention: Regional Business Development Unit, info.rbd@eif.org

Prior to the Deadline and in the same manner as specified above, the Applicants may change or amend their Expressions of Interest by clearly indicating the parts to be changed or amended.

Prior to or after the Deadline and in the same manner as specified above, the Applicants may withdraw their Expressions of Interest.

After the Deadline, an acknowledgement of receipt will be sent by EIF to the relevant Applicants via e-mail, which shall state the following:

• Unique proposal identifier (Expression of Interest number);

• Reference number of the Call for Expression of Interest;

• Confirmation that the Expression of Interest was received before the Deadline.

The acknowledgement of receipt shall not be construed as a declaration of completeness of the Expression of Interest and the documents submitted therewith, nor any kind of assessment of the same.

7. Selection process

When selecting Financial Intermediaries, EIF is committed to respect fundamental principles, such as:

i)                  equal treatment,

ii)                 non-discrimination,

iii)                confidentiality and

iv)                transparency.

The Expressions of Interest will be examined by the EIF on a comparative basis, using professional analysis and judgment, taking into account the Selection Criteria.

The EIF will reject those Expressions of Interest which do not comply with the Eligibility Criteria. Financial Intermediaries, whose application is rejected because of non-compliance with any of the elements reflected in the statements regarding situations of exclusion (Appendices 5 and 6 to Annex 1 hereto), may not present themselves for consideration in subsequent Calls for Expression of Interest unless it is specifically evidenced that the reason for the exclusion no longer exists.

The expiration of the Deadline shall not prevent EIF, in limited cases if deemed necessary, from requesting and receiving from Applicants clarifications on issues of a mere technical or formal nature, provided that such clarifications shall neither provide an opportunity to the respective Applicants to unduly improve their applications nor otherwise distort the competition between the Applicants.

Applicants who are not excluded according to the Eligibility Criteria will go through the EIF selection process based on the Quality Assessment Criteria. The further selection based on the Quality Assessment Criteria, and the due diligence process if any, follows the standard procedures and guidelines applied by EIF to its business. The evaluation of proposals at this phase will be conducted under competitive terms and it is envisaged to select one or more Applicants overall.

In any phase of the selection process, EIF reserves itself full discretion to consider Financial Intermediaries and no Applicant has any claim or other right or may expect to be ultimately selected for financial support by IPA.

Similarly, any negotiation of terms and conditions of Operational Agreements by no means entails any obligation for the EIF to enter into such Operational Agreement with the relevant Financial Intermediaries.

Financial Intermediaries which do not receive contributions from IPA are informed accordingly; the reasons for their Expression of Interest being rejected may be clearly communicated to them upon request.

Those Applicants, whose Expression of Interest is rejected, shall have the right to submit a written complaint by e-mail and registered mail or professional courier service, to the same address used for the submission of the Expressions of Interest above, within thirty (30) days of receipt of the letter of rejection. Any complaints will be dealt within the framework and in accordance with the EIB Group complaints policy.

8. Operational Provisions  

The Financial Intermediary, with which Operational Agreement will be eventually signed, shall be required to comply with the EIF anti-fraud policy, available on the website of EIF, and with the relevant monitoring, reporting, publicity and auditing obligations required by the EU regulations applicable to IPA and by the Contribution Agreement signed between EIF and the Government of the Republic of Turkey. Such obligations are briefly described in Annex 2, and will be mentioned in the relevant Operational Agreement.

Download here the full text of the call, including Annex 1 (Expression of Interest) and Annex 2 (Financial Instrument: Description and Selection Criteria) [pdf]

 

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