The European Investment Bank announces a EUR 100 million loan to UNICAJA for financing the investment projects of SMEs and local authorities. The finance contract was signed this morning in Málaga by EIB Vice-President Magdalena Álvarez Arza and the CEO of Unicaja, Braulio Medel Cámara. This is the second instalment of a EUR 200 million loan.
Vice-President Álvarez, who is in charge operations in Spain, said that “this credit line demonstrates the EIB’s support for small businesses and particularly job creation at a time of widespread difficulty gaining access to credit.”
This EIB loan offers a more favourable interest rate and maturity than other sources of credit, and Unicaja will pass these benefits on to its borrowers.
The loan, which will be matched by a further EUR 100 million of credit by Unicaja, will mainly serve to finance the working capital and investment – including in the areas of tourism, environmental protection and RDI – of small industrial and service companies. It will help to boost the productivity of the beneficiary firms, promote the rational use of energy and diversification of energy sources and foster private enterprise in the health and education sectors. Around 30% of the loan will support the projects of local authorities in convergence regions.
This loan comes under the EIB’s policy of assisting small businesses in the current economic climate by facilitating their access to finance with long maturities, flexible disbursement schedules and low interest rates. At the same time, the ElB requires transparency from its intermediary banks, which have to clearly inform their customers of the way in which EIB funding improves their borrowing terms.
The EIB is the European Union’s long-term financing institution promoting EU objectives. Founded in 1958, it operates in the 27 EU Member States and more than 130 other countries around the globe. As an EU objective, support for SMEs is also an investment priority of the EIB.
Photographer: EIB ©To be defined
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