European Investment Fund (EIF) and Institut Català de Finances (ICF) have signed a guarantee agreement of 80 million euros that will make a total of 114 million euros in loans available to Catalan companies for innovation and digitalisation projects.

The collaboration with the EIF will allow the public promotion bank to provide the Catalan business fabric with more resources and better conditions to promote the growth and transformation of the Catalan economy through two products: the ICF Pime Innova loans and the IFEM Innovació participatory loans.

The alliance between the EIF and the ICF is strengthened once again, after both financial institutions signed their first guarantee agreement in 2024 to mobilise up to 64 million euros in support of social, cultural and creative companies and entities in Catalonia and their second guarantee agreement to activate 57 million euros for sustainable projects, to which is added the implementation of the FITA Fund.

The announcement is part of the guarantee agreements signed by the EIF with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise and eleven financial institutions on June 12 in Madrid to mobilise more than 2,500 million euros of new financing for Spanish SMEs that want to invest in innovation, sustainability and competitiveness.

More than 6 000 Spanish SMEs and mid-caps are expected to benefit from the new funding, making it easier for them to invest in areas such as research, development and innovation, energy efficiency, the social economy and digitalisation. The investment will enable companies to face the dual green and digital transition, and will also contribute to competitiveness in this key sector for Spanish economy.

The signatures were announced at the InvestEU State Compartment Guarantee Programme under the Regional Resilience Fund presentation event today in Madrid. The event was attended by Director General of International Financing of the Spanish Treasury Inés Carpio, EIF Chief Investment Officer Marco Marrone, Acting Head of the European Commission Representation in Spain Lucas González Ojeda and representatives of the different financial institutions taking part in the programme. Representatives of the Spanish autonomous communities, investment ecosystem and business sector also attended.

The signatory financial institutions include commercial banks, regional promotional banks, debt funds and alternative lenders. This broad range of institutions will ensure that companies can access a wide variety of debt instruments in line with their different capital needs.

“These guarantee agreements will make it easier for SMEs and mid-caps to access the financing they need to invest in innovation and speed up their green and digital transition,” said EIF Chief Investment Officer Marco Marrone. “They are a clear example of public-private sector cooperation that will bolster the competitiveness of Spanish companies, and show how the EIF can mobilise huge volumes of financing by working with all financial institutions.”

“These signatures will enable an almost complete rollout of the fourth Regional Resilience Fund instrument, which joins the direct co-financing instrument, the intermediated instrument for sustainable urban development and tourism, and the alternative financing instrument for sustainable development. We will continue supporting business financing with an integrated approach, using instruments tailored to the needs of each company,” highlighted Director General of International Financing of the Spanish Treasury Inés Carpio.

“Events like the one held today underline the capacity of the Recovery and Resilience Facility – financed by NextGenerationEU – to support and implement public investment, thereby driving growth and employment in Spain and Europe. The Regional Resilience Fund – part of Spain’s recovery and resilience plan – will back SMEs, contributing to green and digital growth and improving the competitiveness of the European economy.” said Acting Head of the European Commission Representation in Spain Lucas González Ojeda.

The InvestEU State Compartment Guarantee Programme under the Regional Resilience Fund is seeing a high level of market acceptance, meaning that just six months after its launch, guarantee agreements positively impacting all 17 Spanish autonomous communities and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla have been signed with 11 financial institutions.

The guarantees are being made possible by Spain’s recovery, transformation and resilience plan financed by NextGenerationEU, and more specifically thanks to the Regional Resilience Fund. The Regional Resilience Fund contribution is done through the InvestEU Member State compartment, which is enabling EU member countries to use funds from the recovery and resilience plans to contribute to the EU guarantee expanding the range of financing available to support national priorities.

The guarantee agreements were signed with Andbank (via Actyus Growth Finance), BBVA, CaixaBank, EBN Banco, ICF, Inveready, Kutxabank, MicroBank, Santander, Tresmares and Unicaja (via Seneca Direct Lending).

The event also featured a panel session on the opportunities offered by the InvestEU guarantee programme for Spanish SMEs. The panel included InvestEU beneficiary companies like ECOALF, IriusRisk and NEOS Surgery.