The European Investment Bank (EIB) provides three loans amounting to EUR 200 million to Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG (BACA) to finance projects fostering regional development and investments of private companies. The loans will support projects of such companies in Austria as well as in other countries where BACA operates, particularly in some new EU Member States:
- Loan of EUR 50 million will finance investments in less developed regions at environmental protection, energy, R&D and innovation. This EIB credit line is for the first time in Austria targeted at companies with more than 250 and fewer than 3 000 employees. Until now these companies have rarely benefited from EIB support as they had only limited access to global loan financing targeted at SMEs, and had missed out on individual loans intended for large companies promoting capital projects of over EUR 25 million.
- Regional Development Loan of EUR 110 million will support investments promoted by public and private investors in the in the fields of infrastructure, environmental protection and improvement, the rational use of energy, health and education with the focus on economic development of less favoured regions in Austria and other EU Member States.
- SME Support Loan of EUR 40 million is targeted at projects usually implemented by SMEs in the areas of environmental protection, the rational use of energy, services, including tourism, in countries where BACA operates. This loan will finance projects with the total investment costs higher than EUR 40 000 and less than EUR 25 million. The EIB has a strong record of cooperation with BACA. For the time being, total EIB lending to this bank represents some EUR 3 billion. With a well developed branch network in Poland, Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Slovenia, etc., the Bank is well positioned to mediate EIB funds to private and public sector promoters not only in Austria but also in other EU Member States.
Mr Wolfgang Roth, the EIB Vice-President responsible for the Bank's operations in Austria commented: I appreciate very much that the EIB lending provided to BACA, a well established EIB partner bank with a strong branch network in Central Europe, will finance projects relevant for the development of less developed regions both in Austria and in the new Member States.
The EIB, the European Union's long term financing institution, finances economically viable investment projects that contribute towards the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the EU Member States. Outside the Union the EIB implements the financial components of agreements concluded under European development aid and cooperation policies.
The EIB has provided loans in Austria totalling to some EUR 5 billion since 1999. Almost half of this amount (EUR 2.2 billion) represented loans to Austrian banks acting as intermediaries for financing investments of SMEs and municipalities. Investments in the sector of industry, mostly with the focus on the modernisation, R&D and implementation of new innovative production methods, amounted to EUR 845 million (17%). EIB lending in the areas of health and education represented EUR 776 million (16%) during the aforementioned period.