The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's financing institution, announces a further two global loans totalling EUR 100 million(1) for providing leasing finance for investment undertaken by small and medium-sized enterprises.

The loans are being intermediated by Cassa di Risparmio di Bologna SpA (Carisbo) and Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze (CRF). The EUR 50 million advanced to Carisbo will be onlent to Centro Leasing SpA (CL), while the funds made available to CRF will be passed on to CAER Leasing SpA (CAERL).

Both loans are intended for financing SME leasing contracts in the fields of industry, energy and environmental protection, ventures designed to strengthen industrial competitiveness and infrastructure of regional or European benefit.

Operations of this type represent one of the main sources of external financing for SMEs in Italy, especially those with fewer than 100 employees. These two global loans bring the amount of leasing finance for SMEs made available by the EIB since the beginning of the year to more than EUR 400 million.

Global loans are credit lines deployed by partner institutions to finance small and medium-scale ventures meeting the EIB's eligibility criteria. The Bank has an extensive network of 130 active intermediaries, including more than 30 in Italy, which manage global loans targeting SMEs throughout the European Union.Over the past five years, the EIB has allocated EUR 11.6 billion, under global loans totalling more than EUR 29 billion, in support of ventures mounted by more than 49 000 SMEs.


(1) EUR 1 = ITL 1 936.27, GBP 0.647500.