Government measures in key jurisdictions 5th edition - Flipbook - Page 75
Italy
Marco Gubitosi | mgubitosi@legance.it | 353 1 673 1705
Lorenzo Gentiloni Silveri | lgentiloni@legance.it | +39 069318271
Contributor: Legance
Loans and
financial
support
Financial assistance is available under several schemes that have been introduced in Italy:
•
Central SME Guarantee Fund (“CSGF”): the SME guarantee scheme, already existing prior
to the Covid-19 outbreak, has been extended by the Italian Government until 30 June 2021
(saved for those companies with a total number of employees not inferior than 250 and no
more than 499 for which the CSGF is extended until 28 February 2021). 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 Ä5 million. The guarantee percentage
shall be equal to the 90% of the loan for financial transaction with a duration up to six
years. In case of loans up to Ä30k, with a maximum duration of fifteen years, which
provides the repayment not early than 24 months, the guarantee percentage shall be equal
to the 100%. Such scheme is available to SMEs with fewer than 250 employees and annual
turnover below Ä50 million or an annual balance sheet of up to Ä43 million. SMEs with
“unlikely to pay” debt exposures or “in difficulty” can benefit from this scheme. 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.
•
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 Ä200,000,000,000 (of which, at least Ä30,000,000,000 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 counterguaranteed 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 and within 30
June 2021:
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 pre-amortisation
period of up to 36 (thirty-six) months) and, in any case, falling no later than 30 June 2027.
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 (1) 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 or (2) to
repay an existing financing, provided that (a) the principal amount of the new financing is
at least 25% higher than the principal amount of the existing financing to be paid and (b)
due to the granting of the SACE Guarantee the new financing benefits from lower costs or
a longer maturity than the existing financing to be repaid.
•
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, either pro soluto or 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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