Finnvera is prepared to fund investments by SMEs, midcaps and large companies across Finland by EUR 1 billion this and next year. The programme aims to complement the financial market and improve the implementation of corporate investment funding.
There are signs of increased willingness of Finnish companies to invest. Even though the war in Iran and rising energy prices are causing uncertainty, a growing number of project plans related to the clean transition and industrial investments are pointing to an increased demand.
As regards new investments, a key challenge for Finland is the availability of financing, especially for long-term and capital-intensive projects.
With timely and targeted measures, Finnvera can help realise such investments and support an upturn in economic growth without crowding out market-based financing. The new investment programme is based on Finnvera’s existing funding authorisations, and it also makes use of risk sharing at the EU level.
“Companies have been cautious about investing, but now there is a greater risk that investments will start too late for the economy to turn to growth. At this stage, the odds that Finnvera’s funding will accelerate the launch of investments are exceptionally good,” says Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.
The goal of the programme is to launch large-scale investments of over EUR 100 million in Finland in cooperation with Finnvera, Tesi and Business Finland.
“Our aim is for Finnvera to enable the highest number of investments within domestic financing during this decade. We are prepared to increase the share of funding for significant industrial and regional investments. In addition to guarantees, we can grant direct loans and longer payment periods compared to banks,” says Juha Ketola, Executive Vice President at Finnvera.
Public funding complements private financial market
Finnvera’s guarantees and loans are expected to attract at least the same amount of private funding.
“Despite the budding economic growth, concerns about sufficient corporate funding still persist. Against this backdrop, public funding is an important element to complement and leverage private financing. Finnvera’s investment programme focuses on identified market gaps and in this way improves the functioning of the market,” says Minister of Economic Affairs Sakari Puisto.
As part of the programme, Finnvera has set up a group focusing on financing investments, which will identify and coordinate investment projects nationally and regionally.
Companies can apply for Finnvera’s investment financing through the usual funding process, with experts available to find the most suitable funding solutions for projects.
Later this year, partly guaranteed investment loans implemented with the European Commission will be added to the programme. They will focus on industrial and clean transition projects. The arrangement will be carried out as part of the InvestEU programme, which brings together different EU financial instruments and uses guarantees to enable investments in higher-risk projects, in particular. Within the framework of the programme, Finnvera can fund investments totalling EUR 500 million. This will expand Finnvera’s use of EU-level risk-sharing for larger domestic investments.
Inquiries:
Juha Ketola, Executive Vice President, Finnvera, tel. +358 29 460 2658
Lars Aikala, Special Adviser to the Minister of Economic Affairs, tel. +358 29 504 7330
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