The Institut Català de Finances (ICF) and Avalis de Catalunya have started up a new loan facility worth €7 million to support stallholders at Sant Ildefons market in Cornellà de Llobregat. Specifically, freelancers and SMEs awarded a licence for a stall will be able to finance it with this loan called ICF - Avalis Markets.

The loans are backed by Avalis de Catalunya and generally range from €25,000 to €250,000. They can be repaid over at most 10 years and include the option of a one-year interest-only period.

“These loans are designed to deliver a bespoke solution for stallholders who have to bear the cost after a year and a half in which they have been hard hit by the fallout from the health pandemic,” says Anna Àlvarez, the ICF’s General Director of Lending. “Our role as a public financial institution is precisely to support the business community with loans which can be repaid more conveniently due to the interest-only period and 10-year term.”

Meanwhile Josep Lores, Avalis de Catalunya’s CEO, points out that “the wide range of loans available in these funding transactions underscores how Avalis and the ICF are committed to micro-SMEs and the self-employed.”

Cornellà Town Council welcomes this loan facility for market stallholders as a way of helping them to keep their businesses going and as a funding instrument featuring customised solutions tailored to each case.

This new financing facility adds to the range of options which the ICF and Avalis make available to Catalonia’s business community. The two institutions already have in place a credit facility to finance SME and freelancer investment and working capital needs, another to drive the growth of Catalan SMEs, and a third to fund sustainable projects in areas such as energy efficiency, renewable energy self-consumption, recycling and waste treatment.

Interested companies can apply for their loan on the ICF website (www.icf.cat).

About the ICF

The Institut Català de Finances is Catalonia’s public financial institution. Its main mission is to foster funding for the business community in Catalonia in order to support the growth, innovation and sustainability of the Catalan economy. The ICF acts as a complement to the private sector by offering a wide range of financing solutions focusing on loans, guarantees and venture capital. Since 2014 it has been a member of the European Association of Public Banks (EAPB) which brings together most of the public banks and financial institutions operating in Europe.