Coronavirus - Government measures in key jurisdictions - Flipbook - Page 50
Italy
Contributor: Legance
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Loans and
financial
support
Marco Gubitosi | mgubitosi@legance.it | 353 1 673 1705
Lorenzo Gentiloni Silveri | lgentiloni@legance.it | +39 069318271
Financial assistance is available under several schemes that have been introduced in
Italy, such as:
•
Central SME Guarantee Fund (“CSGF”): the SME guarantee scheme, already
existing prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, has been expanded - until 31 December
2020 - by the Italian Government. The guarantees will now be issued free of
charge and the maximum guarantee per SME will be increased to €5 million.
Such scheme is available to SMEs with fewer than 250 employees and annual
turnover below €50 million or an annual balance sheet of up to €43 million. SMEs
with “nonperforming” or “unlikely to pay” debt exposures or “in difficulty” cannot
benefit from this scheme. Available to mid cap with up to 499 employees.
•
Support by way of Guarantee by SACE S.p.A. (“SACE”): the Italian Government
has introduced the possibility for SACE to grant guarantees over new financing
granted by banks, financial intermediaries and any other authorised financial
entities to Italian companies negatively affected by the COVID-19 outbreak (the
“SACE Guarantee”). The total commitment of SACE in relation to the SACE
Guarantee will be equal to a maximum amount of €200,000,000,000 (of which,
at least €30,000,000,000 is allocated to support SMEs (including self-employed
persons and VAT-registered professionals) provided they have already made full
use of the CSGF). The obligations of SACE arising from the granting of the SACE
Guarantee are counter-guaranteed by the Italian State. Such scheme is available
in relation to financings, granted to companies only after the entry into force of
the Law Decree No. 23/2020:
Has the
government put
in place any new
bank funding
schemes?
i. with maturity no longer than 6 (six) years (with the possibility to set a preamortisation period of up to 24 (twenty-four) months),
ii. which do not exceed the higher of (a) 25% of the turnover (fatturato) made
by the relevant company during the financial year 2019, as resulting from the
relevant approved financial statements or tax declaration and (b) twice as
much as the relevant personnel costs (costi del personale) incurred during the
financial year 2019. In case the same company (or another company belonging
to the same group) has already received other financings secured by the SACE
Guarantee (or other public guarantee) (the “Additional Financings”), the amount
of such Additional Financings shall be taken into account for the purposes of the
calculation of the abovementioned maximum threshold, and
iii. whose proceeds will be applied to cover (a) personnel costs (costi del
personale), (b) investments or (c) working capital, employed in manufacturing
facilities (stabilimenti produttivi) and business activities (attività imprenditoriali)
which are located in Italy.
Companies which benefit from the SACE Guarantee (and any other company of the
relevant group, if any) cannot (i) distribute any dividends and/or (ii) repurchase their
shares for the 12 months following the granting of the relevant financing. Companies
with “deteriorated” debt exposures, or “in difficulty” cannot benefit from this scheme.
•
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Loan repayment suspension: SMEs may postpone payment of principal and
interest on any loans. Revocable credit lines and factoring facilities cannot be
revoked until 30 September 20 if the SME sends relevant notice to creditors. As
to the applicability criteria, the same criteria as per the CSGF paragraph above
will apply.
Government measures in key jurisdictions
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