Madrid, the 23rd of September, 2019.- The Spanish Export Credit Insurance Company (CESCE in the Spanish acronym) and the Spanish Development Finance Company (COFIDES) have signed a collaboration agreement outlining the basic lines of COFIDES' participation in the Business Support Fund, an instrument created in 2013 by CESCE to facilitate and guarantee access to non-bank financing for CESCE client SMEs, registered both in Spain and in the European Union. This agreement, which was signed today by the Chairman of COFIDES, José Luis Curbelo, and the Executive Chairman of CESCE, Fernando Salazar Palma, has as a priority objective support for Spanish companies' international presence through alternative financing sources to the bank.
As the Chairman of COFIDES, José Luis Curbelo, explained: “This financial support provided by COFIDES is located within the lines of action of the company's new Strategic Plan for the period 2019-2021 in terms of providing its range of products with a character of additionality, directing it towards specific needs of clients which at this time are not covered by the private financial sector”.
The Business Support Fund provides financing to CESCE clients by means of a discount without recourse to commercial invoices in which CESCE has issued a complete and irrevocable guarantee. In the words of the Executive Chairman of CESCE, Fernando Salazar, “the agreement reinforces CESCE's support for Spanish companies in their process of international expansion and does so by means of a tool, the Business Support Fund, which has already become the second principal source of short-term non-bank financing in Spain”.
The objective of the Fund is to provide and facilitate financing to Spanish SMEs and help them in their process of internationalisation, one of CESCE and COFIDES' priority objectives and part of their Strategic Plans. This solution allows access to working capital financing facilities for all companies of any size and from any sector which are CESCE clients and which have access, due to their solvency, to this tool. COFIDES has agreed to become part of the Fund as an investor and this alliance will help to provide a substantial boost to small and medium-sized Spanish companies in particular.
The agreement leaves open the possibility of extending collaboration between the parties to other projects and investors. The main objective is the promotion of Spanish business activity and, within the framework of this agreement, COFIDES' first initiative has been to purchase shares in the Business Support Fund for an amount of 5 million euro.
The Spanish Export Credit Insurance Company (CESCE) is Spain's Export Credit Agency (ECA). CESCE operates globally with a presence in 10 countries and provides comprehensive commercial credit management solutions through the companies owned by the Group. The main shareholder in CESCE is the Spanish State (50.25%). The remainder of the capital is split between Banco Santander (23.88%), BBVA (16.3%) and other Spanish banks and insurance companies.
COFIDES is a public-private company which has been offering financial support to Spanish companies investing abroad since 1988. It is accredited with the EU to manage Community budgets, allowing it to structure transactions with a high impact on development. It is also accredited with the UN’s Green Climate Fund and can structure operations on climate change mitigation and adaptation with the GCF. It is the exclusive manager of FIEX and FONPYME funds on behalf of the Secretariat of State for Trade attached to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism and supports AECID in managing FONPRODE funds. Shareholders include Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Banco Sabadell and CAF-Development Bank of Latin America.
