COSME guarantee facility signature in Portugal
Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) to launch a new financing product with backing from the European Commission

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) have signed a new agreement in Portugal under the European Commission’s COSME programme. The agreement benefits from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe, the Juncker Plan.

Under the COSME programme, CGD will be able to launch a new EUR 200 million loan product targeting 5,600 businesses in Portugal.

Commenting on the signature, EIF Chief Executive, Pier Luigi Gilibert, said: “This new financial product for businesses in Portugal will be welcomed by the SME community. I am delighted that less than a year after signing an InnovFin agreement with CGD, we can now help the bank to offer new funding opportunities to SMEs in a wide range of sectors across the country.”

Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: “SMEs have a huge potential to unleash. To better contribute to job creation and growth in Portugal, they definitively need to get better access to finance. Thanks to these Juncker Plan agreements, 5,600 Portuguese businesses will receive EU support to turn their ideas into projects.”

CDG Chief Executive, Paulo Moita de Macedo said: “Caixa is focused with two new solutions, Caixa Invest Social and Caixa Invest Start, to be a partner of clients who dare to start a business and venture in the market, helping them to fulfil their dreams and opportunities.”

These transactions in Portugal reflect the European Commission’s strong commitment to deliver on one of its top political priorities: boosting jobs, growth and investment across Europe.

About EIF

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops 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 EIF's work under EFSI is available here.

About CGD

CGD is the largest financial institution in Portugal, 100% owned by the Portuguese State, and is active in all areas of financial services. Caixa owns the Fundação Caixa Geral de Depósitos , with Culturgest, one of the most daring creative cultural houses in Portugal . More information on Caixa Geral de Depósitos is available here.

About the Investment Plan for Europe

The Investment Plan for Europe, known as the “Juncker Plan”, is one of the European Commission’s top priorities. It focuses on boosting investment to generate jobs and growth by making smarter use of new and existing financial resources, removing obstacles to investment, and providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects.

The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the main pillar of the Juncker Plan and provides first loss guarantees, enabling the EIB to invest in more projects that often come with greater risks. EFSI has already yielded tangible results. The projects and agreements approved for financing under EFSI are expected to mobilise almost EUR 400 billion in investments, including EUR 8.7 billion in Portugal, and support almost 949 000 SMEs in the 28 Member States.

More information on the results of the Investment Plan for Europe is available here.

About COSME

COSME is the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) running from 2014 to 2020 with a total budget of EUR 2.3 billion. At least 60% of the programme will be devoted to easing access to finance for SMEs in Europe, with two financial instruments. The COSME Loan Guarantee Facility supports guarantees and counter-guarantees to financial institutions to help them provide more loans and lease finance to SMEs. This facility also includes securitisation of SME debt finance portfolios. The COSME programme also invests through the COSME Equity Facility for Growth in equity funds that provide risk capital to SMEs mainly in the expansion and growth stages. The COSME programme builds on the success of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) (2007-2013) which helped to mobilise almost EUR 21 billion of loans and more than EUR 3 billion of venture capital to over 384 000 SMEs in Europe.

Businesses can contact selected financial institutions in their country to access EU financing: http://www.access2finance.eu/.

Press contacts:

EIF:
David Yormesor
Tel.: + 352 42 66 88 346
E-Mail: d.yormesor@eif.org

CGD:
Luís Goldschmidt
Tel.: +351963001680
E-Mail: luis.goldschmidt@cgd.pt

European Commission:
Sophie Dupin de Saint-Cyr
Tel.: + 32 (0)2 29 56 169
E-Mail: sophie.dupin-de-saint-cyr@ec.europa.eu

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