The European Investment Bank has signed a EUR 100 million (SEK 985 million) credit facility with the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden. The loan was extended under the “InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators” programme with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation funding and support programme which also acts as a possible first loss piece. Apart from providing financing, the EIB’s InnovFin Advisory Service also provided technical assistance to advise ESS on the financial structure enabling access to external funding in support of the construction.
For the EIB, it is the first ever loan supporting the construction of a project with the statute of a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC)*, and the first [...]