The European Investment Fund (EIF) and The Danish Growth Fund (Vækstfonden) – secretariat for The Danish Green Investment Fund (DGIF) have signed a guarantee agreement to increase lending to innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small mid-caps in Denmark. This transaction benefits from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe.

The new agreement will allow Vækstfonden - Danmarks Grønne Investeringsfond (DGIF) to provide DKK 340m (c. EUR 45m) of financing to innovative companies in Denmark over the next 2 years. DGIF is an independent state loan fund with the purpose of co-financing economically-viable projects in the areas of energy efficiency, resource efficiency and renewable energy. The loans will be supported by an EIF guarantee under the “EU InnovFin finance for Innovators” initiative with financial backing from the European Commission's Horizon 2020 programme.

Commenting on the agreement, European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: “I warmly welcome the news today that the EIF and Vækstfonden - Danmarks Grønne Investeringsfond are collaborating to provide EFSI-backed finance to innovative green companies in Denmark. We need to foster growth in Europe in a sustainable way for the long term. We have already seen that the EFSI is helping to finance many energy-related projects across the EU, which is very good news for our COP 21 objectives. I congratulate Vækstfonden - Danmarks Grønne Investeringsfond for showing the initiative and working with the EIF under the Investment Plan and encourage Danish companies to apply for risk-financing."

EIF Chief Executive, Pier Luigi Gilibert commented: “We are delighted to be signing the first green EFSI InnovFin SME guarantee agreement in Europe for innovative SMEs. With its experience in supporting energy and resource efficiency projects, I am sure that Vækstfonden’s - Danmarks Grønne Investeringsfond will help to enhance access to finance for innovative companies”.

Christian Motzfeldt, Chief Executive of The Danish Growth Fund, the secretariat for The Danish Green Investment Fund commented: “The new InnovFin agreement is yet another result of our many endeavours to give the Danish businesses as much access to EU funds as possible. With this guarantee, more of the companies that wish to make commercial investments in sustainable development can be taken into consideration for a loan from The Danish Green Investment Fund. I think this is very positive”.

The transaction reflects the EIB Group’s commitment to respond swiftly to calls from Member States, the European Commission and the European Parliament for a rapid launch of concrete initiatives under EFSI, accelerating lending and guaranteeing transactions capable of boosting jobs and growth in the EU.

About the European Investment Fund

The European Investment Fund's (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops both venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth and employment. More information on the EIF's work under the EFSI is available here.

About The Danish Growth Fund - Vækstfonden

The Danish Growth Fund is a state investment fund that contributes to the creation of new companies by providing capital and expertise. Since 1992, The Danish Growth Fund has, together with private investors, co-financed growth in more than 6000 Danish companies with a total commitment of more than DKK 17 billion. The Danish Growth Fund invests equity and provides loans and guarantees for small as well as medium-sized enterprises in collaboration with private partners and Danish financial institutions.

About The Danish Green Investment Fund

The Danish Green Investment Fund is an independent state loan fund with the purpose of co-financing economically viable projects that facilitate and support the sustainable development of our society. The fund lends to privately held companies, non-profit housing associations and public sector companies and institutions that have a budget separate from the municipalities, regions and the state. The fund was established as a part of the agreement “A Greener Denmark” from 2014, and has an equity of maximum DKK 200m as well as a state guaranteed lending limit of up to DKK 5bn in capital to co-finance projects that concern environmental savings, renewable energy sources and recourse efficiency.

About the Investment Plan for Europe

The Investment Plan focuses on removing obstacles to investment, providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects and making smarter use of new and existing financial resources. The Investment Plan is already showing results. The European Investment Bank (EIB) estimates that by April 2016, the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) triggered more than €80bn of investment in Europe.

Find out the latest EFSI figures including a break-down by sector and by country here. For more information see the FAQs.

About InnovFin

The InnovFin SME Guarantee Facility provides guarantees and counter-guarantees on debt financing of between €25,000 and €7.5m in order to improve access to loan finance for innovative small and medium-sized enterprises and small midcaps (up to 499 employees). The facility is managed by the EIF, and is rolled out through financial intermediaries – banks and other financial institutions – in EU Member States and Associated Countries. Under this facility, financial intermediaries are guaranteed by the EIF against a proportion of their losses incurred on the debt financing covered under the facility.

About Horizon2020

http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en

Press contacts:

EIF: David Yormesor
Tel.: +352 42 66 88 346, e-mail: d.yormesor@eif.org

The Danish Growth Fund and The Danish Green Investment Fund: Peter Bruun
Tel.: +45 40 81 35 46, e-mail: pbr@vf.dk

European Commission: Siobhán Millbright
Tel.:+ 32 (0)2 29 5736, e-mail: Siobhan.millbright@ec.europa.eu

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