The European Investment Bank today announced the creation of a second urban development fund (UDF) to support urban regeneration and development schemes in Andalusia in the framework of the EU’s JESSICA initiative. The UDF will be managed by the finance company Ahorro Corporación Financiera, part of the Ahorro Corporación group. The operating contract was signed this morning by representatives of the EIB and Ahorro Corporación.

JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas) is an initiative developed by the European Commission and the EIB together with the Council of Europe Development Bank that enables the Member States to use part of their EU grants (the so-called structural funds) to make refundable investments in the urban environment. 

This is the second UDF (the first was signed in March 2011 with BBVA) to be set up in Andalusia under the agreement between the Government of Andalusia and the EIB to create Andalusia’s JESSICA holding fund in the framework of the region’s 2007-2013 ERDF operational programme. The holding fund will in turn invest in UDFs, which will channel their resources into projects presented by promoters for financing.

This second UDF is initially endowed with EUR 40 million from Andalusia’s JESSICA holding fund and will be implemented by a newly created company called AC JESSICA ANDALUCIA, S.A. and a venture capital fund, both managed by the Ahorro Corporación group.

The funds will be made available – in the form of long-term loans, equity participations, participating loans and other types of quasi-equity – to urban projects that form part of integrated sustainable urban development plans and are brought forward by public-private partnerships or directly by public or private sector promoters.

The fund will make it possible to provide finance for urban development and regeneration projects in areas such as the creation of cultural, tourism and social/educational facilities, transport and mobility, the restoration of cultural heritage, the rehabilitation of former industrial sites and the provision of common urban spaces for SMEs and innovation.  The projects will be spread throughout the region

The European Investment Bank is the EU’s long-term financing institution promoting European objectives. Founded in 1958, it operates in the 27 Member States and more than 130 other countries worldwide.

Ahorro Corporación is a financial and investment services group whose shareholders are the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks (CECA) and the savings banks themselves. It has been providing consultancy and investment services to both institutional customers and professional and retail investors for more than thirty years. Its extensive experience has turned it into a reference point for the financial community.