Four new JEREMIE agreements in Romania will provide EUR 120m of low-interest SME loans

The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed four new JEREMIE agreements in Romania with Banca Transilvania, BRD - Groupe Societe Generale, ProCredit Bank and Raiffeisen Bank. The new agreements will make a further EUR 120m available to SMEs under the new Portfolio Risk Sharing Loan instrument, allowing SMEs to benefit from significantly lower interest rates and reduced collateral requirements for new loans destined for investments and working capital. 

Commenting on the signatures, the EIF Deputy Director Hubert Cottogni, Head of Regional Business Development, said: “The portfolio risk sharing and interest subsidy JEREMIE instrument is new in Romania, but has already been successfully implemented by EIF in several countries. The instrument complements the existing JEREMIE guarantee and risk capital facilities by providing new financing options for a wider range of SMEs in various sectors and stages of development.  This demonstrates that Structural Funds can be used efficiently to support SMEs access to finance and we will be able to build on these initial achievements under the future cohesion policy”. 

Under the JEREMIE initiative, two other SME financial instruments are already active in Romania: the First Loss Portfolio Guarantee (implemented by BCR, Raiffeisen Bank and UniCredit Tiriac Bank) has enabled over 2,000 new loans in total value of over EUR 180m with significantly lower collateral requirements for SMEs, whereas the country-focused risk capital fund 3TS Catalyst Romania has made its first investments in technology companies.

The four new transactions have been made possible through the increase of the JEREMIE resources by the Government of Romania in November by means of a further allocation to the initiative from the Sectoral Operational Programme “Increase of Economic Competitiveness” 2007-2013, cofinanced through ERDF. The SMEs loans under this instrument shall be provided by the selected banks in compliance with the relevant de minimis aid scheme.

About the EIF

EIF's central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses 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. EIF’s total net commitments to private equity funds amounted to over EUR 6.9bn at end 2012. With investments in over 435 funds, EIF is a leading player in European venture due to the scale and the scope of its investments, especially in high-tech and early-stage segments. EIF’s guarantees loan portfolio totalled over EUR 4.7bn in close to 255 operations at end 2012, positioning it as a major European SME guarantees actor and a leading micro-finance guarantor.

About JEREMIE

JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) is a joint initiative launched by the European Commission (Directorate General Regional Policy) and the European Investment Bank Group to improve access to finance for SMEs in the EU within the Structural Funds framework for the period 2007 - 2013. JEREMIE enables the EU Member States and Regions to put money from the structural funds and also national resources into holding funds that can finance SMEs in a flexible and innovative way. The new initiative aims at developing and fostering the role of entrepreneurship within the EU.

To date, at EU level, EIF manages a total of 14 JEREMIE Holding Funds, of which 7 at national level and 7 at regional level.

In Romania, the JEREMIE Holding Fund is managed by EIF and is confinanced through the European Regional Development Fund under the 2007-2013 Sectoral Operational Programme – Increase of Economic Competitiveness.

Press contacts:

• European Investment Fund: David Yormesor, d.yormesor@eif.org
• Raiffeisen Bank: Anca Hasegan, anca.hasegan@raiffeisen.ro
• Banca Transilvania: Laura Petrehus, laura.petrehus@btrl.ro
• BRD Groupe Société Générale: Emanuela Ghyka, emanuela.ghyka@brd.ro
• ProCredit Bank Romania: Alina Pacioianu, alina.pacioianu@procreditbank.ro