Government measures in key jurisdictions 3rd edition final - Flipbook - Page 71
Marco Gubitosi | mgubitosi@legance.it | 353 1 673 1705
Lorenzo Gentiloni Silveri | lgentiloni@legance.it | +39 069318271
Loans and
financial
support
Financial assistance is available under several schemes that have been introduced in Italy, such as the
below.
•
Has the
government put in
place any new
bank funding
schemes?
•
•
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 not subject to any credit risk assessment and the
maximum guarantee per SME will be increased to €5 million. The guarantee percentage shall be equal
to the 90% of the loan (100% in case of loans up to €30k).The maximum duration of the financing is six
years (ten years in case of loans up to €30k, with a pre-amortization period of at least 24 months).
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 “unlikely to pay” debt exposures or
“in difficulty” cannot benefit from this scheme. Available to mid cap with up to 499 employees. The
guarantee may also be issued on transactions already executed. However, this possibility only applies
if the loan has been disbursed no more than 3 months before the application to the Guarantee Fund
and, in any case, no earlier than 31 January 2020.
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 “
”). 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 as well as to professional associations and/or professional organisations (associazioni
professionali e alle società tra professionisti)) 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:
i. with maturity no longer than 6 (six) years (with the possibility to set a pre-amortisation period of up
to 36 (thirty-six) 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.
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 (in case the payment of the dividends or the performance of
share buyback has already occurred as at the date of request of the financing, such restriction will
apply in relation to the 12 months following the abovementioned request). Such companies benefit
from the SACE guarantee also in the context of assignment of receivables pro solvendo to banks,
financial intermediaries and any other authorized financial entities made after 7
June 2020.
Government measures in key jurisdictions
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