Who can benefit?

Businesses that are eligible for financing, regardless of legal form, are those which meet the following criteria:

• Recently set up, new and existing Mid-caps and Large Corporates, in the following sense:

  a) a Mid-cap that employs at least 250 but less than 3,000 persons (in Annual Work Units) or less than 250 employees and has an annual turnover over EUR 50 million and an annual balance sheet total over EUR 43 million, as per Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC,
  b) a Large Corporate that employs at least 3,000 persons (in Annual Work Units), as per the Commission Recommendation, which in determining company size and staff headcount takes into account (i) employees included in the company staff/with a direct relationship with the company (direct employees) and (ii) employees of related companies, as per the relevant definitions of said Recommendation regarding autonomous, partner and linked enterprises. Relationships between enterprises through natural persons are also considered in the event of linked enterprises that operate in the same or in adjacent markets. Total staff on a consolidated basis should amount to at least 250 and less than 3,000 in the case of Mid-caps, and at least 3,000 in the case of Large Corporates.

• They are established and/or operate within Greece,
• They are not considered as at 31 December 2019 an “undertaking in difficulty”, as defined in Article 2.18 of General Block Exemption Regulation No. 651/2014, in Article 2.14 of Agricultural Block Exemption Regulation No. 702/2014, or in Article 3.5 of Fisheries Sector Block Exemption Regulation No. 1388/2014, or if they were, they are no longer an undertaking in difficulty at the time of the execution of the loan agreement.

• They do not carry out any of the following “excluded activities” throughout the term of this financing:

• Production or activities involving harmful or exploitative forms of forced labor/harmful child labour,
• Production or marketing of any product or activity considered illegal under the laws or regulations of the Member State where the Borrower is established or international agreements and covenants,
• Any business related to pornography or prostitution,
• Production or trade of wild animals or wildlife products governed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species or Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES),
• Production or use or marketing of hazardous materials such as radioactive materials (except medical isotopes and materials for diagnosis and treatment in healthcare), irregular asbestos fibers and products containing PCBs,
• Cross-border trade in waste and waste products, unless it complies with the Basel Convention and key national and EU regulations, without excluding the use of waste as fuel for district heating purposes,
• Unsustainable fishing methods (i.e. drift fishing in the marine environment using nets longer than 2.5 km and explosion fishing),
• Manufacture or trade of medicinal products, pesticides/herbicides, chemicals, ozone-depleting substances and other dangerous substances subject to international phasing out or prohibition,
• Destruction of critical habitats,
• Production and distribution of racist, anti-democratic and/or neo-Nazi media,
• Tobacco, if it is an essential part of primary funded business activities of an investment project,
• Live animals for scientific and experimental purposes, including their breeding, unless the activity in question complies with Directive 2010/63/EU, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2019/1010 of the European Parliament and of the Council for the protection of animals used for scientific purposes,
• Ammunition and weapons, military/police equipment, infrastructure or penitentiary facilities, prisons,
• Gambling, casinos and equivalent enterprises or hotels hosting such facilities,
• Commercial concessions and logging in tropical natural forests, Conversion of natural forest into plantation,
• Purchase of logging equipment for use in tropical natural forests or forests of high environmental value in all areas and activities leading to clear felling and/or degradation of tropical natural forests or high nature-value forests,
• New palm oil plantations,
• Any business with political or religious content.

• Besides the above activities, financial holding companies, whose sole economic activity is to hold and to manage portfolios of equity participations and/or investments in other companies, are not eligible.
• They are not excluded from EIB financing subject to a relevant decision taken in line with the EIB’s Policy of Exclusion as published on the EIB’s website.

• They are not and will not be a “Sanctioned Person”. “Sanctioned Person” means any person or entity (for the avoidance of doubt, the term “entity” includes any government, group or terrorist organization) that is the subject of Sanctions or against which Sanctions have been imposed (including, without limitation, any sanctions imposed because they are owned or controlled in any way, directly or indirectly, by a person or entity which is the subject of Sanctions or against whom Sanctions have been imposed).
  “Sanctions” are financial laws, regulations, embargoes or other restrictive measures (including, without limitation, measures related to terrorist financing) enacted, administered, and/or enforced from time to time by any of the following:

(a) the United Nations and any organization or person legally designated or authorized by the United Nations to adopt, administer, implement and/or enforce such measures;
(b) the European Union and any body or person designated or authorized by the European Union to adopt, administer, implement and/or enforce such measures; and
(c) the United States Government and any department, service or office thereof, including the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), the US Department of the Treasury, the US Department of State and/or the US Department of Commerce.

• They are not engaged in “Illegal Activities”. “Illegal Activity” means any of the following illegal activities or activities carried out for illegal purposes, in accordance with applicable law, in any of the following areas: (i) fraud, corruption, coercion, collusion or obstruction; (ii) money laundering, terrorist financing or fiscal offences as defined in the Anti-Money Laundering directives; and (iii) fraud and other illegal activities against the financial interests of the EU, as defined in the PIF Directive (Directive EU 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on combating, through criminal law, fraud against the financial interests of the Union, as amended and in force).
  
  
• They have not benefited from state aid, which has been declared illegal or incompatible with a Commission decision and which has not yet been repaid.
  
  
• They are potentially financially viable, in accordance with the internal evaluation procedures applied by the Bank.
  
  
• They are not essentially active in one or more prohibited sectors of activity, as per the relevant EIB Policy.
  
  
• They operate in an eligible activity in line with the codes of economic activity in the European Union (NACE) detailed here.
  
  
• If the company's investment plan is already or will be financed through a European and/or National Financial Assistance Program in the context of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sum of the loan and the amount corresponding to the EU support and/or other National Programs in the context of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, should not exceed 100% of the cost of implementation of its investment plan.
  
  
• The amount of the investment plan of the company should not exceed a total of Euro fifty million (€ 50,000,000).
  
  
• The company, and the companies/entities of the Group to which it belongs, have not been financed or will not be financed through this program by National Bank of Greece with an amount over Euro  ten million (€10,000,000.00) in total.
  
  
• The total amount of financing granted with EGF support to the company (if it is a Large Corporate) and to its Group companies/entities should not exceed the total amount of Euro two hundred and fifty million (€ 250,000,000).
  
  

The key features of the loans granted  through the program are the following:

To submit your application:

• Contact the competent business unit of the Bank or call the RM assigned to your company.
• Submit a file containing the documentation listed below, so that your financing application can be processed and assessed.

In addition to the standard documentation (such as: balance sheets, balances, periodic VAT returns, E1 forms):

1. Application for financing, together with a list of any other documents attached, duly completed and signed by the business
2. The Company’s Business/ Investment Plan formatted in line with the Bank's standardised template
3. A list of active KAD numbers via taxisnet.
4. Staff data:
   Lists validated by the Labor Inspectorate (Lists of staff - Ε4) or
   Detailed Periodic Declarations (DPDs) for IKA
5. Shareholder/corporate structure data:
   For capital companies (SA, Limited Liability Company, Private Company): copy of the pages of the Book of Proprietors/Shareholders indicating the current Corporate/Shareholder structure as at the date the application is filed, or, alternatively, the minutes of the most recent General Meeting of Shareholders including the names of Partners/ Shareholders and the company shares held in total.
   For personal companies (General Partnerships, Limited Partnerships) the company’s articles of association and any amendments thereto or any codification thereof with all company changes.
6. Declaration of aid under Provisional Support Framework
7. Declaration regarding SME status
8. Declaration stating the fulfilment of the eligibility criteria for the scheme
9. Solemn Declaration stating that the business has no overdue obligations with financial institutions

Through to 30.06.2022 or until available funds have been used up.

 Contact details

For more information, you can contact today a member of our team or visit any  NBG Branch.