BNL BNP Paribas, EIB Group to provide €470m credit line

The new operation, which is being carried out by BNL BNP Paribas and the EIB Group, which includes the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF), focuses on the real economy and is targeted at small and medium-sized businesses (with fewer than 250 employees), which will account for at least 50% of the total, as well as mid-caps (companies with fewer than 3 000 employees).

The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the Investment Plan for Europe’s major pillar, is supporting the operation. Minerva 2 is a synthetic securitization of a portfolio of the bank’s performing loans (with no asset assignment).

The EIF has given a guarantee for a €94 million tranche, with an EIB counter-guarantee, allowing BNL to make further subsidised loans worth up to €470 million to Italian enterprises dealing with the impact of the pandemic on the economy and business sector at this vital stage of national recovery.