With a EUR 100m loan the European Investment Bank (EIB) will be financing projects carried out by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in cooperation with UniCredit Leasing GmbH. The funds now being made available by the EU bank will be on-lent by UniCredit Leasing, as intermediary institution, to the companies in question. UniCredit Bank AG, as the parent company of UniCredit Leasing, has provided considerable support for this transaction.

Apart from SME, mid-cap companies with up to 3 000 employees will also be eligible for the loans. For the EIB financing SMEs and mid-caps is a main focus of its lending activities. Last year alone, the EIB Group lent a record amount of nearly EUR 22bn in this segment of the market. The EIB Group also includes the European Investment Fund, which specialises in risk capital finance. Some 230 000 firms across Europe have benefited from the loans.

In 2013 EIB lending for SMEs and mid-caps in Germany increased to EUR 1.4bn, reaching an all-time high. In its lending operations the EIB works together with partner institutions such as UniCredit Leasing. The contract now signed is the third example of cooperation between the two institutions. UniCredit Leasing operates throughout Germany and can therefore reach a large number of companies.

At the signing of the contract, EIB Vice-President Wilhelm Molterer, whose responsibilities include the Bank's activities in Germany, stated: "With its expertise in financing small and medium-sized enterprises, UniCredit Leasing is an important partner for the EIB. Firms will once again benefit from its proven expertise in project appraisal and implementation. UniCredit Leasing's wide geographical reach enables it to reach a large number of SMEs and mid-caps. We are expecting there to be an additional positive impact on growth and employment."

"We are delighted to be able once again to offer German SMEs the benefits of our cooperation with the EIB in the form of favourable loans for their capital expenditure", said Frederik Linthout, UniCredit Leasing GmbH's CEO, adding that "this operation will certainly help to meet the expectations for economic growth this year".