The European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term financing institution of the European Union (EU), announces a loan for EUR 60 million (ESP 10 billion) (1) to Caja Laboral Popular for financing part of Mondragón Corporación Cooperativa (MCC) Group's current investment programme.
The finance contract was signed by the President of Caja Laboral Popular, Juan María Otaegui, and EIB Vice-President Luís Martí, who highlighted the fact that "MCC's investment policy is geared to transferring and reinvesting surpluses among the cooperatives making up the group in order to foster growth, employment and its future development, aims fully in line with the EIB's objectives".
The proceeds of the loan advanced to Caja Laboral Popular, a credit institution forming part of MCC, will be deployed to finance a number of the group's projects:
The EIB was created in 1958 by the founding treaty of the European Economic Community, the Treaty of Rome. It was set up to contribute to the integrated and balanced development of the Member States, as well as to their economic and social cohesion, by providing long-term finance for capital investment fulfilling EU objectives. Foremost among these is fostering the productivity and competitiveness of European companies, thereby both strengthening the Union's economic and social fabric and helping to generate stable jobs, one of the EU's priority goals.Owned by the EU Member States, the EIB raises the resources for its lending operations on the capital markets, where its bond issues are consistently rated AAA.
(1) EUR 1 = ESP 166 386.