JEREMIE Holding Fund Latvia: the EIF has chosen Swedbank to manage a newly created Funded Risk Sharing Instrument to provide loans for Latvian SMEs.

Swedbank will receive up to EUR 22 million from the Latvian JEREMIE Holding Fund. The selected bank will contribute to the implementation of the instrument providing the same amount from their own resources. SMEs will have better access to credit resources for the next two years and this instrument will help to improve market conditions in Latvia.

The Funded Risk Sharing Instrument allows selected banks (Swedbank and SEB banka) to provide combined total of up to EUR 104 million of investment and working capital loans for the development and expansion of micro, small and medium size companies in Latvia, primarily in manufacturing sector.

This decision concludes the selection stage for Latvian financial intermediaries envisaged to manage allocations from the Latvian JEREMIE Holding Fund. Four financial intermediaries have been selected to manage all envisaged instruments.

BaltCap Management Latvia has been selected to manage a risk capital fund with a target size of EUR 30m. Imprimatur Capital Baltics has been selected to manage seed and start-up capital funds with total capital of EUR 20.4m and SEB banka has been chosen to manage a FRS instrument with a total available funds of EUR 60m. Swedbank will manage an FRS instrument with total available funds of EUR 44m.

All abovementioned transactions are currently in negotiation stage with legal structuring and fundraising (for equity transactions) in process. Signed contracts are expected to follow during the first quarter 2010, enabling selected intermediaries to start lending and investments in SMEs. 

About JEREMIE

JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) is a joint initiative launched by the European Commission (DG 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. Since the products will be provided on a repayment basis, funding will be reinvested and hence more SMEs will benefit from the EU resources.

EIF has currently signed 7 National (Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Bulgaria) and 3 Regional (in France - Languedoc Roussillon, and Italy - Campania and Sicily) Holding Fund agreements.

The new initiative aims at developing and fostering the role of entrepreneurship within the EU in order to meet the objectives of the Lisbon agenda and help structural funds to deliver greater benefits to the market.

About EIF

EIF's central mission is to support Europe's small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance.  EIF designs and develops venture capital and guarantees 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. The EIF total net commitments to private equity funds amounted to over EUR 3.7bn at 30^th June 2009. With investments in over 300 funds, the 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. The EIF commitment in guarantees totaled over EUR 13.3bn in close to 190 operations, positioning it as a major European SME guarantees actor and a leading micro-finance guarantor.

Contacts: David Yormesor, tel +352 426 688 346, e-mail inforbd@eif.org

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