The Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) has opened a new call for the ICF Eurocrèdit lending line, endowed with 320 million euros co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union. In this way, the public promotion bank of the Generalitat de Catalunya puts more financing at the disposal of small and medium-sized companies that want to carry out investments or projects to grow, open new markets or strengthen their activity. Companies that are not SMEs but have less than 500 workers and have less than 100 million revenues or less than 86 million balance sheets will also be able to accommodate.

"From the ICF we play a key role in channeling European funds to bring funding to the country's business fabric under good conditions and with the aim of promoting growth, competitiveness and transformation of the Catalan economy", said ICF CEO Vanessa Servera.

The previous call of the ICF Eurocrèdit line finances small and medium-sized companies with a total of 381 million euros corresponding to 733 operations, according to the latest data corresponding to March 2024 collected by the ICF. The main difference of the new ICF Eurocrèdit line with respect to the previous one is that it is also available for so-called small midcaps, that is, companies with a number of employees less than 500 whose annual turnover does not exceed 100 million euros or whose balance sheet does not exceed 86 million euros.

Specifically, loans to small midcaps may reach up to 10 million euros for long-term operations (with a maximum repayment period of 15 years and up to 2 years grace period included) and 5 million euros for the medium term (with a maximum repayment period of 5 years and up to a one-year grace period). Lending for SMEs, meanwhile, will be able to reach up to 4 million euros for long-term operations and 3 million euros for medium-term operations.

The interest rate will be the 12-month Euribor plus a differential of between 0.5% and 2%, which may be reduced by 0.25 percentage points if it meets any prioritization criteria. These criteria are aligned with the Strategy for the Smart Specialization of Catalonia, RIS3CAT 2030, and seek to promote projects linked to sustainability, development, innovation and equality, among others. There will also be the possibility to quote a fixed rate. There will be no opening fee and the early repayment fee will be a maximum of 0.25%.

The new call for the ICF Eurocrèdit line is part of the ERDF Program of Catalonia 2021-2027 and complements other instruments of the European Union aimed at improving financing opportunities for SMEs.