EIF guarantees to HBOR unlock up to €50 million in loans to support faster recovery of Croatian SMEs and small mid-caps from the COVID-19 pandemic;
The guarantees are extended under the Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF), a €25 billion guarantee fund established by the EIB to accelerate post-COVID recovery of European companies;
This is the third EGF operation in Croatia bringing the total amount of loans that can be protected by the EGF to €350 million

The European Investment Fund (EIF), a part of the European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group) will provide guarantees worth €35 million to Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR), allowing the Croatian public-owned development bank to originate a portfolio of €50 million of financing for Croatian small and medium enterprises (SME) and small mid-caps looking to mitigate economic consequences of COVID-19 pandemic.

The EIF guarantees stem from the Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF), a €25 billion guarantee facility set up by the EIB Group in 2020 to accelerate the post-COVID-19 recovery of European economy, safeguard jobs, and provide much needed liquidity to European SMEs.

The EGF guarantees will allow HBOR to offer loans to Croatian SMEs and small mid-caps under more favourable terms including reduced interest rates or lower collateral requirements. The loan will available to SMEs and small mid-caps operating in some of the hardest hit sectors of the Croatian economy including tourism and manufacturing.

Roger Havenith, Deputy Chief Executive of the EIF said: “I am delighted to sign the third EGF guarantee in Croatia in under two months, unlocking a further 50 million to help with the faster recovery of Croatian SMEs hit by the economic impact of COVID-19. This demonstrates, once again, our commitment to the economic and social development of Croatia and underlines our readiness to support Croatian financial institutions in creating new credit lines for small businesses in the context of the COVID-19 recovery. The EIF looks forward to increasing this support further in the days and weeks to come and would like to thank HBOR, our long-standing partner for their cooperation.”

Tamara Perko, President of the Management Board of HBOR said: “We are very pleased that we have become a partner of the EIF in the implementation of this instrument. HBOR will use these guarantees for directly approved loans under the existing loan programmes to provide even more favourable conditions to our entrepreneurs: loan approvals at interest rates reduced by 0.403 pp compared to the regular ones or with lower collateral requirements, i.e. loan approvals will be possible only with bills of exchange and promissory notes as collateral. These benefits will be used for working capital and investment loans.“

EGF approves nearly half its planned 2021 financing for SMEs, mid-caps and public sector

This is the third EGF operation signed in Croatia following similar agreements with and it brings the total amount of loans to be guaranteed by the EIB Group`s EGF mechanism to €350 million in Croatia alone. The country is one of 22 EU-member countries participating and benefiting from the EGF.

The (EGF) has approved funding amounting to almost half its target for 2021. After clearance under the EU state aid notification process in December 2020, the initiative has now approved €11.7 billion in support of European businesses struggling with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is almost half the fund’s target for 2021.

The fund mobilises additional financing, and initiatives approved so far are expected to generate EUR 93.9 billion in funding and investments for the EU economy. Demand for EGF financing is strong, and further approvals and signatures are expected to rapidly bring the EGF well beyond 50% of its target by early summer.

Background information:

About the European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union (EU) owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals both in Europe and beyond.

About the European Investment Fund

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 by helping them to access finance. The EIF designs and develops both venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, the EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth and employment.

About the European Guarantee Fund

The European Guarantee Fund (EGF) was set up by the EIB Group with contributions from EU Member States to shield companies suffering from the COVID-19 crisis. Using nearly €25 billion in guarantees, the EGF allows the EIB and the EIF to quickly make loans, guarantees, asset-backed securities, equity and other financial instruments available to mostly small and medium-sized enterprises. The EGF is part of the European Union’s recovery package aiming to provide a total of €540 billion boost those parts of the EU economy that have been hit the worst. Its goal is to ensure that SMEs with sustainable business plans can get the liquidity to overcome COVID-19 related adversities, and that healthy business can get the support they need, in order to grow.

About EIB response to COVID-19

To combat the economic impact of this crisis in Europe and as part of the package of measures the EU is deploying to tackle the economic effects of the pandemic, on 23 April the European Council approved the EIB Group’s creation of a €25 billion Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF).

The EIB Group is playing a key role in directly combating COVID-19 by supporting EU efforts to halt the spread of the pandemic, find a cure for the illness and develop a vaccine. To this end, the EU bank is prioritising all investments related to the health sector and research and development programmes focusing on this goal.

The EIB’s current project portfolio for supporting both critical healthcare infrastructure and research and development investments in the EU health sector stands at around €6 billion. The EIB and the World Health Organization also recently signed an agreement to drive cooperation between the two institutions and work together to strengthen healthcare systems in the countries most vulnerable to the pandemic. More detailed information on the support offered by the EIB and EIF

Press contacts:

EIB Group: Tibor Jona, E-mail: t.jona@eib.org, tel.: +352 691 287 052

Website: www.eib.org/press - Press Office: +352 4379 21000 – press@eib.org
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