The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 130 million to finance the research, development and innovation (RDI) projects in healthcare IT & imaging technology of the Agfa Group. These strategic projects for Agfa HealthCare aim to increase both the efficiency of healthcare and the quality of services for patients. By financing these projects, the EIB will also foster the competitiveness of European technologies and contribute to the European Union’s objective of developing Europe’s knowledge economy.
The projects are part of Agfa’s investment programme in its healthcare business. This includes RDI activities in the period 2010 up to and including 2013, when the majority of the new products in the areas mentioned below are expected to be launched on the market. These RDI activities will mostly take place in Agfa HealthCare’s R&D centres in Belgium, Germany, Austria and France.
The programme is aimed at the development and market launch of new products in three different areas:
- Hospital Information Systems and Clinical Information Systems (HIS/CIS, the equivalent of a business IT system for hospitals that also includes the Electronic Patient Record);
- Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) for managing image-intensive clinical practices such as radiology and cardiology; and
- Digital Radiography (i.e. the digitisation of medical images).
The EIB finance consists of a 7-year loan signed under the Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF), designed by the EIB and the European Commission to finance research, development and innovation projects in the EU Member States.
Philippe Maystadt, President of the European Investment Bank, and Christian Reinaudo, CEO of Agfa-Gevaert, signed the loan contract today, 22 November 2010, during a visit to Agfa’s headquarters in Mortsel.
Christian Reinaudo underlined the importance of this loan agreement, which will contribute to the company’s internal growth strategy as well as its efforts to achieve further diversification of its financing sources. Mr Reinaudo said: “Agfa’s healthcare IT & imaging solutions allow care providers to offer improved quality and faster services, resulting in greater patient satisfaction. With global healthcare spending under pressure, governments and public authorities are increasingly turning to innovative healthcare IT & imaging solutions to curb their expenses and deliver quality care over the longer term.”
Philippe Maystadt stressed that investing in the knowledge economy is key to Europe’s competitiveness and long-term economic growth. He said: “It is crucially important for EU industries to boost their activities in R&D and increase their market share in all innovative sectors to face competition from other continents. The EIB is dedicated to supporting the development of a knowledge-based economy in Europe as a priority objective”. He added: “It is also necessary to provide backing for innovative projects with tailor-made financial products such as RSFF, which we are using for the Agfa Healthcare projects. We are pleased to support Agfa in its strategy: this company holds leading market positions thanks to its ambitious R&D programmes and strongly believes in innovation as an essential component of its successes in the future.
Background information:
About the EIB and RSFF
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending arm of the European Union and is wholly owned by the 27 EU Member States. Its mission is to support the implementation of EU policies. It mainly achieves this mission by providing loans from funds raised on capital markets on favourable terms thanks to its AAA credit rating. The Bank adapts its activities to developments in EU policy and contributes to economic and social cohesion, environmental protection, research and innovation, support for SMEs, development of trans-European transport and energy networks and the promotion of secure, competitive and sustainable energy supplies. In 2009, EIB lent more than EUR 70 billion in support of projects located in the EU.
The Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF) is a joint EIB and European Commission initiative which supports the development of research, development and innovation (RDI) projects by improving access to debt financing and creating additional funding capacity for the sector. The facility directly promotes the EU’s objective of making Europe a knowledge-driven economy.
RSFF is funded jointly by the EIB and the EU’s Seventh Research Framework Programme to cover the financial risks associated with RDI projects. It amounts to EUR 10 billion for the period 2007-2013. To date, EUR 6.5 billion from the RSFF has been lent for RDI projects in a range of sectors such as biotechnology, IT and software, engineering (in particular automotive) and renewable energy. (See the video on RSFF)
About Agfa Gevaert
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world’s leading companies in imaging and information technology. Agfa develops, manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), for the healthcare sector (Agfa Healthcare), and for specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials).
Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 2,755 million Euro in 2009.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading global provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions. The company has nearly a century of healthcare experience and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. Today Agfa HealthCare designs, develops and delivers state-of-the-art systems for capturing, managing and processing diagnostic images and clinical/administrative information for hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as contrast media solutions to enable effective medical imaging results. The company has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2009 were 1,178 million euro. For more information on Agfa HealthCare, please visit www.agfahealthcare.com