New €200m agreement between EIB and illimity to support SMEs
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and illimity Bank have signed an agreement worth €200m to support SMEs in Italy. The EIB will provide €100m loan to illimity, which will invest an additional €100m through b-ilty, its digital bank, to provide financial services and credit to companies with a turnover of between €2m and €15m.
At least 30% of the funds will be used to finance businesses operating in the Cohesion Regions of Italy, and 20% of the funds will support investments made by Italian companies in energy transition.
This is the second agreement between the two banks, following one in 2021 which enabled funding of over 1 billion euro to be provided for the liquidity needs of Italian SMEs.
Corrado Passera, CEO and founder of illimity, commented: “illimity was conceived with the ambition of enhancing the value of and supporting Italy’s entrepreneurial fabric. Our commitment, working alongside businesses, is further confirmed by this agreement which enables new funding to be provided to SMEs in the highly complex period we are currently experiencing. Collaborating with the EIB once again allows us to provide even greater support to businesses with potential which intend to boost their growth, in this way contributing to a positive economic, social and environmental change in their local area”.