AGRICULTURE AND BIOECONOMY PROGRAM LOAN III

Programme loan to finance eligible investments in agriculture and bioeconomy in EU countries.

This programme loan will improve competitiveness and access to finance at favourable conditions for agriculture and bioeconomy companies and/or cooperatives.

The project is a Programme Loan operation that focuses on investments to be carried out by eligible small and medium sized enterprises, cooperatives and larger companies active in the bioeconomy across the EU.

The operation addresses market weaknesses and failures and gaps associated with incomplete markets in the case of food, feed, fiber and biomaterials markets, those associated with projects generating environmental, positive knowledge and health externalities, or reduce negative climate and environmental externalities, with low-carbon, low-pollution energy generation.

Such investments will therefore contribute to the Bank's "Innovation, Digital and Human Capital", or "Sustainable Energy and Natural Resources" or "SME and mid-caps Finance" or "Sustainable Energy and Natural Resources" policy objective, part of them will contribute to the Bank's Economic and Social Cohesion policy objective and to the EIB Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability policy objective. 

It is expected that this Programme Loan will help accelerate and further mobilise private sector investments, thus fostering the sustainability of enterprises active in the Bioeconomy value chains. The Bank will further contribute to support the transformation, inclusive recovery and resilience of a number of companies that have been and are still negatively impacted by the shock provoked by the COVID-19 outbreak, and currently as regards the situation in Ukraine and its impact on energy or food security as well as social unrest.

The EIB involvement is expected to overcome the limit of commercial credit supply in agriculture and bioeconomy projects for which a clear funding gap exists, but also for counterparties for which a flexible funding is important to sustain stability and competitiveness.

The Bank's involvement is also expected to generate positive effects in terms of long maturities at favourable rates, financing diversification and signalling effect for other financiers.

Each sub-operation under this programme loan will be subject to the same appraisal procedures as any other direct operation. The Bank's services will therefore ensure on a sub-operation basis that investments are implemented in compliance with domestic and EU applicable legislation and standard information will be posted on the EIB website.

The Promoters of the projects to be financed under this programme loan will be private companies including cooperatives not operating in the utilities sector and not having the status of contracting authority, and are thus not subject to EU rules on public procurement. The Bank will require that projects financed under this programme loan comply with domestic and EU legislation, where applicable.