Improved funding for innovative companies: KfW introduces "Entrepreneur Loan Plus"

Frankfurt am Main (ots) -

- Up to EUR 7.5 million per project
- 50% exemption from liability for on-lending banks
- European Investment Fund and KfW each bear 25% of the credit
risk from the exemption from liability

From 1 December 2014, KfW will be offering the new Entrepreneur
Loan Plus, which provides innovative medium-sized companies and
self-employed professionals with investment and working capital
financing at a particularly favourable interest rate for projects in
Germany. The programme considers a company innovative if it satisfies
at least one of several criteria, such as having successfully filed a
patent within the last 24 months. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
can apply for up to EUR 7.5 million per project under the
Entrepreneur Loan Plus. Companies with a credit requirement of EUR 3
million or less per project receive particularly favourable terms and
conditions. The Entrepreneur Loan Plus can be used to finance up to
100% of eligible investment costs with a term of up to seven years or
working capital with a term of up to five years. The Entrepreneur
Loan Plus is special in that KfW and the European Investment Fund
will, under an exemption from liability, each bear 25% (in total 50%)
of the credit risk of the on-lending banks to facilitate the granting
of loans for such banks. The European Investment Fund (EIF) provides
support for funding SMEs by sharing the risk via its RSI (Risk
Sharing Instrument) guarantee programme. The RSI is a joint
initiative run by the EIF, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the
European Commission.

"Innovations are what drive our economy and make a considerable
contribution to Germany's international competitiveness. As a
promotional bank, we introduced the Entrepreneur Loan Plus to support
innovative companies and to help them realise their ideas," says Dr
Ingrid Hengster, Member of the Executive Board of KfW Group.

SMEs with fewer than 250 employees and annual sales of a maximum
of EUR 50 million, larger medium-sized companies with fewer than 500
employees and group sales of a maximum of EUR 500 million with
private majority ownership, as well as self-employed professionals,
are eligible for the KfW Entrepreneur Loan Plus. All applicants have
to fulfil the condition of having been active in the market for at
least three years and must have proven their innovativeness, for
instance by having received grants, loans or sureties from national
or European research and/or innovation programmes or by having filed
a patent in the last two years before submitting the application.

Contact:
KfW, Palmengartenstr. 5 - 9, 60325 Frankfurt
Kommunikation (KOM), Wolfram Schweickhardt
Tel. +49 (0)69 7431 1778, Fax: +49 (0)69 7431 3266,
E-Mail: presse@kfw.de, Internet: www.kfw.de