Italian SMEs get a lifeline
with approval of new loans, reports Antonio Fabrizio.
Go deeper with GlobalData
UniCredit Leasing has secured
another credit line with the European Investment Bank (EIB) to
support small and medium-sized firms.
The latest agreement is for a €350m
loan to be used for financing investments by Italy’s SMEs, and
takes the total of loans obtained by UniCredit Leasing from the EIB
to around €1bn this year. Last year it sourced €300m from the EIB,
and in 2008, €300m.
The leasing company will transfer
to SMEs all the financial benefits it gets from the EIB loans,
including an interest rate indexed to Euribor minus 25 basis
points.
The lessor has lent €650m to SMEs
this year, and secured an additional credit line of €250m for
renewable energy projects.
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By GlobalData“Demand has grown over the year,
and we believe we will be able to have around €900m already
allocated by end of December, out of a credit line of €1.15bn,”
Roberto Comincioli, UniCredit Leasing head of operational funds,
said.
EIB vice-president Dario
Scannapieco, who is responsible for financing operations in Italy,
Malta and the Western Balkans, said that the loans will strengthen
the relationship between the EU’s long-term lending institution and
UniCredit, “one of the EIB’s major partners, in operations in
Italy, the rest of the EU and neighbouring countries.”
The latest announcement confirms
the EIB’s increased involvement within the leasing sector.
Before 2008, it had reduced its
loans specifically targeting leasing investments by SMEs as demand
from lessors declined.
Now Italian banks are endeavouring
to increase their loans to SMEs. EIB funds have been channelled to
firms again in the form of loans to banks and their leasing
subsidiaries.
Comincioli believes that the EIB
funds, coupled with a push from Italian authorities and banks, have
made it much easier for Italian SMEs to access finance than some of
their European counterparts.
“This year, applications have
increased and we have funded much more than we did last year. Banks
are fully aware that failing to support SME investments would
jeopardise everything else,” he said.
Around 80% of UniCredit Leasing
customers are SMEs with a turnover up to €50m.
UniCredit Leasing’s Milan offices channel EIB funds to Italian
SMEs. Business transacted by the other 22 subsidiaries of the group
is co-ordinated in Vienna, Austria. Credit lines from the EIB are
provided on an individual country basis rather than at a group
level.
