Mezzanine 'Fund of Fund' for Germany (MDD)

The MDD Facilities (Mezzanin Dachfonds für Deutschland, Mezzanine 'Fund of Fund' for Germany) are partnerships between the ERP Special Fund, represented by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), LfA-Förderbank Bayern, NRW-Bank, Sächsische Aufbaubank (SAB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) to strengthen the market for mezzanine capital in Germany.

The MDD Facilities with an aggregate volume of EUR 600m are managed by EIF and target hybrid debt/equity fund investments in Germany and its objective is to soften the impact of the “wall of debt” experienced by many German mid-caps and provide alternative financing for growth. 

MDD participates in private professional mezzanine funds (including venture debt funds) that invest substantially in German SMEs and mid-caps. By using mezzanine capital, the companies can benefit from the advantages of equity and debt capital at the same time, as their equity capitalisation and thus risk-bearing capacity are improved without having to grant the capital provider shareholder voting rights.

Since its establishment in 2012, this initiative has developed as follows:

• MDD: launched in 2012 with commitments from ERP Special Fund, LfA-Förderbank Bayern and NRW.Bank, totalling EUR 200m including EIF co-investment.
• MDD 2: launched in 2016 with commitments from ERP Special Fund, LfA-Förderbank Bayern, NRW.Bank and SAB Sächsische Aufbaubank, totalling EUR 400m including EIF co-investment.

To date, the MDD Facilities are fully invested, supporting more than 15 funds and 400 investments in portfolio companies. Target funds may, however, be supported by other EIF mandates, e.g. the GFF-EIF Growth Facility.

Are you a fund manager interested in partnering with us?

• Read more information here on how to submit and what to include in a fund proposal to the EIF: EIF for Venture Capital & Private Equity funds.
• If you are looking for funding and would like to see which financial intermediaries currently cooperate with us, please visit http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/where/index.htm and contact the intermediary in your country directly.
• For information about finance available under further EU initiatives, please visit http://europa.eu/youreurope/business/funding-grants/access-to-finance.

Information for SMEs:

• If you are looking for funding and would like to see which financial intermediaries currently cooperate with us, please visit http://www.eif.org/what_we_do/where/index.htm and contact the intermediary in your country directly.
• For information about finance available under further EU initiatives, please visit http://europa.eu/youreurope/business/funding-grants/access-to-finance.