The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a EUR 50m loan with Ferrer, a Spanish pharmaceutical company, aimed at supporting its research activities.

The EIB loan to Ferrer will finance the company’s research activities in the fields of inflammatory diseases, diagnostics, orphan diseases, biotherapeutics and development in cardiovascular, respiratory and other therapeutic areas such as central nervous systems.

The RDI activities will be carried out in Barcelona and will be implemented until 2017. The project will strengthen the company’s position in its core market by accelerating its RDI programmes. In addition, the research activities target areas of significant unmet medical need and improvement of patients’ quality of life.

This long-term loan reflects the EIB’s commitment to supporting RDI and promoting the development of midcap companies. By financing these RDI investments, the EIB will help to underpin the company’s sustainable growth and employment.

Ferrer’s R&D project is supported by “InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators”, a new range of EIB Group products which benefit from the financial support of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and are designed to facilitate access to finance for innovative businesses.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

InnovFin financial products

Under Horizon 2020, the new EU research programme for 2014-20, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group (EIB and EIF) have launched a new generation of financial instruments and advisory services to help innovative firms access finance more easily. Over the next seven years, "InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators" will offer a range of tailored products which will make available more than EUR 24bn of financing support for research and innovation (R&I) by small, medium-sized and large companies and the promoters of research infrastructures. This finance is expected to support up to EUR 48bn of final R&I investments.

InnovFin builds on the success of the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility developed under the seventh EU framework programme for research and technological development (FP7), which financed 114 R&I projects to the tune of EUR 11.3bn and in addition provided loan guarantees worth over EUR 1.4bn.

Backed by funds set aside under Horizon 2020 and by the EIB Group, InnovFin financial products support R&I activities, which by their nature are riskier and harder to assess than traditional investments, and therefore often face difficulties in accessing finance. All are demand-driven instruments, with no prior allocations between sectors, countries or regions. Firms and other entities located in EU Member States and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries will be eligible as final beneficiaries. These debt instruments will be complemented in the near future by a suite of equity instruments managed by the EIF.

InnovFin Large Projects aims to improve access to risk finance for R&I projects emanating from larger firms, universities and public research organisations, R&I infrastructures (including innovation-enabling infrastructures), public-private partnerships, and special-purpose vehicles or projects (including those promoting first-of-a-kind, commercial-scale industrial demonstration projects). Loans and guarantees from EUR 25m to EUR 300m will be delivered directly by the EIB.