The European Investment Fund (EIF) and BOŚ Bank, a Polish commercial bank focused on green financing, signed a portfolio guarantee worth up to €40 million.
It will support up to €60 million in new debt financing for Polish micro, small and medium companies, as well as mid-caps. This marks the EIF’s first fully sustainable guarantee granted to a commercial bank in Poland under the InvestEU programme.
“The guarantee reduces BOŚ Bank’s lending risk and allows it to offer SMEs increased financing on competitive terms,” said the EIF.
“This enhances small companies’ access to finance and helps stimulate the economy. Additionally, the BOŚ Bank guarantee is entirely dedicated to financing investments that put firms on a more sustainable footing.”
The EIF is part of the European Investment Bank Group.
“By supporting sustainable development of small and medium companies, EIF’s guarantee for BOŚ Bank helps deliver on a key strategic goal of the entire European Investment Bank Group,” said EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwińska.
“It will inject some 60 million euros to small companies’ green transition in Poland. It’s the first InvestEU guarantee earmarked entirely for SME sustainable development that the EIF has signed with a commercial bank in Poland. I am pleased that it meets market demand that has so far not been addressed enough by financial institutions.”
BOŚ Bank CEO Bartosz Kublik said: “BOŚ Bank keeps constantly searching for instruments to offer more favourable and attractive financing conditions to our clients for climate-friendly investment.
“This guarantee will help secure loans for renewable energy sources, including photovoltaic farms, that will produce energy for sale.”
EIF deputy CEO Roger Havenith said: “We welcome the strong overall market demand for this product in Poland and hope to see further transactions in support of the EU green transition in due course.”
The transaction was mediated by the National Contact Point for Financial Instruments of the EU Programmes (NCP), an agency affiliated with the Polish government.
“Cooperation between the EIF and BOŚ Bank is particularly valuable in terms of growing the Polish market so that it can offer smaller entrepreneurs better access to financing for sustainable investment,” said NCP head Arkadiusz Lewicki.
Poland’s Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz said: “All companies face the challenge of climate and energy transformation. Entrepreneurs who prepare for this the earliest will increase their competitive chances.”