Santander secures £150 million for EIB business loan fund
Santander has announced it is further enhancing its support to SMEs after securing its third tranche of funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), enabling it to provide discounted loan rates to qualifying businesses.
The £150 million fund will help support firms looking to invest in their businesses, in turn helping to generate new jobs and drive local economic growth.
The new funding is available immediately to companies with fewer than 250 employees looking for loans of up to EUR 12.5 million for a minimum of two years. Some sector restrictions apply.
The new EIB funding complements Santander's commitment to UK companies and follows its pledge to increase lending to small and medium-sized enterprises by 25% in 2011. In total this equates to an increase in overall lending of £6.7 billion, with £4 billion set aside for SMEs. This follows a 26% rise in lending last year.
Steve Pateman, Head of Santander Corporate and Commercial Banking, said: "Ensuring businesses are able to access affordable investment capital is crucial for the UK's economic recovery. Thanks to our partnership with the EIB, we will be able to assist more small and medium-sized customers with their expansion plans at discounted rates, helping to create local jobs and fuel this recovery.
"This new fund quickly follows our recent £100 million fund specifically aimed at the higher education sector, also in partnership with the EIB."
To date, Santander has lent £129 million through the EIB scheme, helping 136 companies to invest in and grow their businesses. Recent examples include: financing Country Court Care Homes' acquisition of Sheffield-based Abbey Grange Nursing Home after it was placed into administration; financing the expansion of Hampshire-based manufacturing firm St Clare Engineering Ltd with the acquisition of additional premises; and financing the purchase and restaurant expansion of Somerset's historic hotel, The Old Vicarage. All three purchases helped protect or generate local jobs.
Simon Brooks, European Investment Bank Vice President, responsible for the United Kingdom, said: "The European Investment Bank is pleased to increase funding for British SMEs through Santander. This is part of our wider engagement to assist SMEs across the UK and elsewhere in Europe to continue to access investment finance during economically challenging times."
Last year 115,000 European SMEs benefited from EIB funding, and over the last three years EUR 30 billion has been provided to SMEs across Europe by the bank. Over the last three years the EIB has signed EUR 2 billion for SME funding in the UK.