New Mutual Guarantee Facility from Banco Português de Fomento – the ‘Impulsar Portugal’ Facility
In early August, Banco Português de Fomento (“BPF”) and the Mutual Guarantee Society launched a new publicly guaranteed financing facility, the Impulsar Portugal Facility, aimed at SMEs and other Portuguese companies seeking to strengthen their cash flow, finance strategic investments or obtain technical guarantees on more favourable terms than those usually available on the market.
The Impulsar Portugal Facility is organised into four strands:
- Short-Term, designed to finance short-term cash flow requirements, notably via current accounts, promissory note financing, commercial paper, foreign bill discounting, factoring and confirming;
- Strategic Investment, designed to finance strategic investment, such as the acquisition of shareholdings in the context of business succession or scaling up, as well as equipment or property leases;
- New Businesses, intended to finance investment and working capital for start-ups; and
- Technical Guarantees, intended for the issuance of performance, tender, compliance or payment guarantees, amongst others, provided directly to the final beneficiary or as a counter-guarantee for a guarantee provided by a credit institution.
Companies may benefit from this facility provided they meet not only the general conditions applicable to the Mutual Guarantee Facilities under the Framework Agreement, but also the specific additional requirements of each strategic area.
In the case of Strategic Investment, companies must meet the general conditions of the Mutual Guarantee Lines and, specifically for transactions involving the acquisition of shareholdings in succession or scaling-up processes, individual investors must carry out the transaction through a company in which they hold a majority stake or by first setting up a special purpose vehicle.
For the New Businesses sub-programme, micro-enterprises are eligible provided that, in addition to meeting the general conditions, they have been in existence for four years or fewer.
The maximum amounts available vary depending on the scheme: up to EUR 7,5M for Short-Term, up to EUR 25M for Strategic Investment, up to EUR 1M for New Businesses and up to EUR 2,5M for Technical Guarantees.
The scheme is valid until 31 December 2028, without prejudice to the possibility of the BPF revoking the Mutual Guarantee Scheme in accordance with the terms set out in the General Conditions.
For further information, please contact us by email at rvr@ccsllegal.com
[Photo by: Towfiqu Barbhuiya, available at unsplash.com]