UniCredit gets EIF’s first InvestEU-support in Austria

The European Investment Fund (EIF) has reached an agreement with UniCredit Bank Austria which involves the former providing a total of EUR 90 million in support to help Austrian SMEs and Small Mid-Caps. This agreement is the first of its kind by EIF in Austria under the InvestEU initiative.

The agreement comprises of two guarantee products and is made possible by the InvestEU Fund. The two aspects include Innovation & Digitisation and Sustainability. This operation represents the first EIF engagement in Austria under InvestEU.

UniCredit Bank Austria will benefit from a EUR 90 million guarantee amount from the European Investment Fund in order to improve the access to finance for Austrian SMEs, across two thematics: Sustainability and Innovation & Digitalization.

Out of the total, EUR 50 million is an InvestEU Innovation and Digitalisation Guarantee which will allow UniCredit Bank Austria to ramp up support for innovation- and digitalisation-driven enterprises. Specific support measures include improving access to finance for Research & Innovation intensive SMEs and Small Mid-Caps, as well as backing the adoption of digital technologies and the digital transformation of enterprises.

The other EUR 40 million is the InvestEU Sustainability Guarantee, with which UniCredit Bank Austria plans to provide further enablement to the pursuit of a green and sustainable transformation of the economy, and to further drive the adoption of environment-friendly, green and inclusive investments of by target final recipients.

Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President for an Economy that Works for People, said: “InvestEU offers Austrian businesses great opportunities to access the finance they need to innovate, expand and create jobs. The investments supported by this agreement are exactly the sort needed to power the green and digital transitions across the EU. I look forward to seeing more such agreements supported by InvestEU in Austria in the months and years ahead.”

EIF Chief Executive Alain Godard said: “The EIF is pleased to be working with UniCredit Bank Austria to provide additional access to finance for SMEs and small mid-caps. The combination of the EIF’s investment and structuring expertise and the support of InvestEU offers a competitive financing solution for UniCredit Bank Austria which will serve to boost the supply of finance in the real economy.”

Dieter Hengl, UniCredit Bank Austria board member responsible for Corporates, said: “I am very pleased that we are the first bank in Austria to join forces with EIF to support companies in investing in the strategic megatopics of innovation, digitalisation and sustainability. Through ‘InvestEU Innovation and Digitalisation Guarantee’ and ‘InvestEU Sustainability Guarantee’, we can enable our customers to invest in these important areas at particularly advantageous conditions. With this agreement we continue the success of the predecessor programmes that EIF and our Bank offered together.”