OREANDA-NEWS. On April 26, 2016, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions announced they signed a partnership agreement on a pan-European EUR 400 million financing, designed for enabling Small & Medium enterprises (SMEs) and midcaps to benefit from financing solutions under preferential terms.

60% of this significant funding envelope from the EIB will be dedicated to the French market. It will consist in a EUR 400 million financing line, that BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions will be running, to increase the support to SMEs and midcaps within the European Union.

Eligible companies for this financing line are:

  • Independent SMEs employing less than 250 persons and established in one of the 28 member states of the European Union;
  • Independent midcaps employing less than 300 persons and established in one of the 28 member states of the European Union.

Each financed project will cover a maximum amount of EUR 25 million.

Involved companies will benefit from the EIB intervention by means of reduced interest rates on their credit or on their leasing.

This overall envelope of EUR 400 million will thus enable BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions to finance entrepreneurial projects in 5 countries –France, UK, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands– and to actively contribute to the financing of the real economy, relying on its main partners (manufacturers, editors and their distribution networks). Several business sectors, which resort to BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions’ products and services on a very regular basis to finance their professional equipment, will indeed take advantage of this financial support to their investments: agriculture, construction and public works, handling, transport, office equipment, IT, telecoms, specialised technologies.

“I am very pleased to sign this major financing agreement with BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, commented Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the EIB. With this new credit line, we are committed to supporting employment, competitiveness and growth of the SMEs and the midcaps. We promote economic dynamism which is essential to our European economies. Our support in favour of companies is reinforced by the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI), a key component of the investment plan for Europe, also called "plan Juncker." To date, the EIB Group has approved more than 200 projects with the guarantee of the EFSI, which will mobilise a total investment of 76 billion euros, nearly a quarter of the target total of EUR 315 billion, in 23 countries of the European Union.”

Charlotte Dennery, Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, underlines the importance of this partnership: “Considering the whole range of operations we are financing as a European leader in professional equipment’s leasing, we inject close to EUR 10 billion every year into the economy and I am glad that we signed this partnership with the EIB for a significant amount of EUR 400 million. These subsidised financings will directly benefit to a large base of small and middle-market companies, which are key to the vitality of our economies and will allow them to develop their business”.

Aiming at boosting growth and employment, support to SMEs and midcaps is a priority for the EIB Group, which provides them with a wide range of instruments. The amount of the financings granted by the EIB to SMEs and midcaps within the European Union tends to increase every year. In 2015, it reached EUR 23.3 billion and allowed to finance the investments of 120,000 SMEs and middle-market companies.