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A €200 million risk sharing operation under TechEU to unlock over €400 million to finance small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-caps in the EU space sector. The EIB provides guarantees to a major European commercial bank and partners with the European Space Agency to offer technical advice, incentivising lending to this strategic sector.
Guarantee provided for the purpose of supporting lending to companies active in the space sector.
This operation will support investments by SMEs, MidCaps, and other private sector entities in the space value chain and digitalisation through risk-sharing guarantees. It addresses market failures in space investments caused by the inherent uncertainty of highly technical projects, lenders' limited ability to assess them, and unpriced positive externalities from satellite data, connectivity, and navigation. Underinvestment in digitalisation is due to asymmetric information and the inability to appropriate the positive externalities fully. Asymmetric information leads to due diligence failures and risk mispricing , particularly for SMEs and MidCaps, due to limited transparency and small operational scales (Pillar 1).
The operation contributes to mobilising private sector funding for a segment underserved by commercial banks, reinforcing the resilience of supply chains and supporting innovation across the full value chain (Pillar 2). The expected results include greater availability of finance for small and medium size space firms, which should enable the development and deployment of new space sector technologies, products and services; and the strengthening of the Italian space sector supply chain.
The EIB's contribution is decisive, combining risk-sharing instruments with non-financial value added through cooperation with ESA. Without the EIB, many of these investments would not materialise, or would do so later, on a smaller scale or on less favourable terms (Pillar 3).
The proposed operation falls within the scope of the EIB's Environmental and Social Standards - "Standard 11 Intermediated Finance". The borrower / financial intermediary has adequate capacity, systems and processes in place for identifying, assessing, managing and monitoring environmental, climate and social risks related to the potential sub-projects benefitting from EIB support. The final beneficiaries will be required to comply with applicable national and EU legislation in respect of environmental and social matters, as appropriate.
Final beneficiaries will be requested to comply with applicable national and EU legislation, as appropriate.