EIB, EIF and Credit Agricole Group to support French SMEs and midcaps
The EIB Group - made up of the European Investment Bank and its subsidiary the European Investment Fund - and the Credit Agricole Group are joining forces to provide French SMEs and midcaps with over €1.1 billion in new financing injected into the economy via two operations.
The EIB Group is making available to French SMEs and midcaps a €830 million package of subsidised loans, which will be distributed over a three-year period by Credit Agricole's Caisses Regionales (regional banks). An additional financing package of €100 million will consolidate this facility.
The second operation comes under the EIF's InnovFin SME Guarantee Facility. This agreement between Credit Agricole Leasing & Factoring and the EIF concerns equipment lease financing and provides for a €200 million guarantee facility over two years for innovative SMEs and midcaps.