Spanish banking major La Caixa and the country’s leading food lobby Federación Española de Industrias de la Alimentación y Bebidas (FIAB) have joined forces to lend up to EUR300m (US$431.7m) to help SME agro-food companies obtain working capital and expand internationally.
The Spanish food sector has been suffering under falling food prices and lower demand. “We are hoping this will help hundreds of agricultural companies that are having a difficult time financing their businesses in the recession,” a FIAB official said.
Go deeper with GlobalData
EUR150m will be provided by the European Investment bank while the remainder of the cost will be shared by La Caixa and FIAB.
Under the agreement, FIAB will also help promote La Caixa’s separate Pymes lending business, which provides loans and factoring services for the agricultural and food industries. FIAB and La Caixa will also work together to promote Spain’s agricultural and food products in the international markets.
Additionally, La Caixa has agreed to fund some of FIAB’s research and development activities to increase the competitiveness of the Spanish food industry.
