The EIF and the Government of Romania have launched a new fund-of-funds initiative to support local businesses with access to equity finance leveraging EU resources.

The Recovery and Resilience Facility was established by Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021, aiming to mitigate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.

Pursuant to the RRF Regulation, the Council of the European Union approved a recovery and resilience plan for Romania on 29 October 2021 (“PNRR”). More details about PNRR are available at https://mfe.gov.ro/pnrr/.

Under PNRR, the Government of Romania has committed to set up an equity financial instrument as described in Component 9, section “Investment 2 – Financial instruments for the private sector”, with an allocation of EUR 400 million. In December 2021, the Government of Romania, represented by the Ministry of European Investments and Projects, has entrusted the EIF with the management of this new equity instrument – now known as the Recovery Equity Fund of Funds or REF.

The REF

The REF invests into underlying funds managed by financial intermediaries (fund managers) that are selected according to the EIF’s standard procedures through the call for expression of interest, as further described below. Underlying funds could be national or regional, new or existing, and should commit to invest into Romania at least the equivalent of the contribution received from REF.

The policy objective of the REF is provide access to finance in the form of equity and quasi-equity for SMEs, mid-caps (companies with up to 3,000 employees), including start-ups, companies in early, advanced growth and expansion stages, and infrastructure projects focused, among others, on renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The REF does not invest directly in businesses; these underlying investments in portfolio companies will be carried out via the fund partners.

Fund managers – apply here

The EIF selects financial intermediaries based on a standard application and evaluation process including due diligence of applying fund managers. Please carefully read the call for expression of interest document and check the eligibility criteria before applying.

Start date for applications: 15 August 2022 (date of email receipt by the EIF)

Deadline for applications: 31 December 2025 (date of email receipt by the EIF)

Applications (and clarification questions) must be sent by email to ref@eif.org.

CALL DOCUMENTS

Call for expression of interest PDF
Annex I - Expression of interest PDF | DOC
Annex II – Term sheet PDF

Clarifications and FAQ documents may be published from time to time on this page.

Clarification no. 1:
Notwithstanding Compliance (e.g. tax, KYC, AML) matters as described in the Call, there are no specific requirements as to the legal structure of the Applicant at the moment of submission of the Expression of Interest. The intended fund structure and all related entities must be described, but not necessarily established, at this point. In case the Applicant team consists in individuals without a legal structure, each team member should sign the Expression of Interest and Declaration of Honour personally. The legal structure should be in place by the time of the signature of commitment agreement with the Financial Intermediary, if and when such stage is reached.

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