European Investment Fund (EIF)

EIF is a specialist provider of risk finance to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) across Europe.They are part of the EIB Group. The shareholders are the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union, represented by the European Commission, and a wide range of public and private banks and financial institutions. They carry out our activities using either our own resources or those provided by the European Investment Bank, the European Commission, by EU Member States or other third parties. By developing and offering targeted financial products to intermediaries, such as banks, guarantee and leasing companies, micro-credit providers and private equity funds, the EIF enhances SMEs access to finance. Their objectives:

• fostering EU objectives, notably in the field of entrepreneurship, growth, innovation, research and development, employment and regional development;

• generating an appropriate return for our shareholders, through a commercial pricing policy and a balance of fee and risk based income.

More than 1 million SMEs have benefited from enhanced access to finance through financial instruments managed by EIF. On www.eif4smes.com you will find an interactive map that identifies all the SMEs that have received EU-support from EIF.

EIF