Billion for Business
Instrument description (LT language)
*instrument_consult*:
Time limits
Signing of loan agreements will continue until 30 June 2026.
How much?
EUR 850 million is assigned for the financial instrument “Billion for Business”, co-financed from the Recovery and Resilience Facility and EUR 250 million- from INVEGA fund.
- The maximum loan amount is EUR 150 million for direct and subordinated loans and EUR 250 million for syndicated loans for one borrower or a group of its companies. In all cases, a loan from INVEGA or from INVEGA and private investors cannot exceed 80% of the project costs and at least 20% of the project costs must be covered by the borrower.
- Relationship with the loans POKYTIS. If a loan for an investment project applied does not exceed EUR 10 million and it is in line with the activities and conditions of the financial instrument POKYTIS, such projects are financed under the terms and conditions of the financial instrument POKYTIS.
- The number of loans is unlimited.
- The maximum loan duration is 180 months for investment loans and 36 months for working capital.
NOTE! Loan funds may not be used to finance activities and assets:
- related to fossil fuels, including their use in consumer market;
- subject to the European Union emissions trading system (EU ETS), where the forecast volumes of greenhouse gas emissions related to them are not below relative benchmarks;
- related to waste landfills, incineration plants and mechanical biological treatment plants.
How does it work?
In order to obtain a loan, one is to apply to INVEGA by submitting an application and related documents through the applications system. Businesses that do not operate in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania at the time of filing the application have no technical opportunities to submit the application through the application system. Having submitted a letter from Invest Lithuania about ongoing investment consultations, such businesses are to submit applications and related documents by e-mail to info@invega.lt.
Priority is given to project co-financing with other financial institutions or international financial institutions. For this purpose, INVEGA will approach financing parties indicated by the company. Such an approach does not create INVEGA’s obligation to grant financing and does not change the sequence of assessment of applications.
Projects in the defence and security industry, financed from the INVEGA fund, are subject to separate ranking of applications.
Projects must comply with “Do No Significant Harm (DNSH)” principle, which allow to determine whether an investment in economic activities does not cause big (significant) harm considering environmental goals (e.g. climate change mitigation, pollution prevention and control, protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems, etc.). This requirement is not applicable to businesses in the defence and security industry.
You can apply for a loan if:
- You operate in the Republic of Lithuania.
- You meet the minimum criteria for reliable taxpayers.
- You are not an enterprise in bankruptcy, restructuring or liquidation.
- At the time of the application, you are not an enterprise in distress, and you submitted a set of financial statements for the past financial year to the Centre of Registers.
- The State and/or the municipality does not have or has less than 25% of the enterprise’s shares, ownership interest or other interest in capital of the enterprise.
- You have not received state aid which has been declared unlawful and incompatible with the internal market by a decision of the European Commission and/or by the lender, or you have repaid the full amount of such aid, including interest, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the legal acts.
- The applicant and its beneficiary or natural persons and legal entities, for whose benefit the loan will be used, are not subject to sanctions (any trade, economic or financial sanctions, embargoes or other restrictive measures).
- The business entity, its head, a member of its administrative, management and/or supervisory bodies or a person having the business entity's authority to represent it, take decisions or exercise control, has not been found guilty and does not have conviction that has not expired and has not been cancelled.
- You have no business relationship with legal entities registered in territories that, in terms of their jurisdiction, do not cooperate with the European Union in the field of application of internationally agreed taxes, and you do not have or do not intend to have transactions with legal entities registered in the target territories.
- The business entity's risk and/or the risk of default on the loan is at the acceptable level of risk.
- In the case of direct loans and activities not in defence and security sectors, you have provided evidence that you have no possibility of obtaining financing in the market.
- You do not have or terminated trade obligations to natural persons and/or legal entities in the countries hostile to the Republic of Lithuania by 31 August 2022.
- The business entity, project suppliers and contractors are not controlled by third parties.
- The business entity, project suppliers and contractors are in line with the security provisions of 5G cybersecurity toolbox set out in the Communication from the European Commission of 15 June 2023 (applicable to projects investing in 5G communications).
- Businesses operating in the defence and security industry must meet additional criteria (see paragraphs 2.21 et seq. of the Description).
- You have provided all the required documents.
All the applicable requirements are detailed in the Description.
Interest of loans
Loans are granted at a variable annual interest rate, which is determined according to the directly applicable pricing methodology for loans granted by INVEGA directly and calculated by use of the interest rate calculator approved by an order of the CEO of INVEGA.
A detailed explanation of the interest calculation is available in the Description.
Businesses in the defence and security industry are eligible to direct, subordinated and syndicated loans to fund their investments and working capital.
A business in the defence and security industry that seeks to obtain a loan for its working capital must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- It has a licence from the Licensing Board of the Public Order Bureau of the Police Department under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania for the manufacture of weapons. Or, it has a licence for the manufacture of weapon parts or for the manufacture of ammunition and/or its parts, or a licence for manufacture of weapon accessories of category A (hereafter referred to as a licence from the Ministry of the Interior). Or, it has filled in an application and has submitted documents to the Ministry of the Interior for obtaining a licence. It must submit the obtained licence to INVEGA no later than within 12 months after the release of the loan (a time limit for presentation of a licence from the Ministry of the Interior can be extended for objective reasons).
- It has an individual export licence from the Ministry of Economy and Innovation of the Republic of Lithuania or an individual export licence for temporary export. Or, it has a comprehensive export licence for military equipment (hereafter referred to as a licence from the Ministry of Economy and Innovation). Or, it does not have a licence from the Ministry of Economy and Innovation but must submit it to INVEGA no later than within 12 months after the release of the loan (a time limit for presentation of a licence from the Ministry of Economy and Innovation can be extended for objective reasons).
- The activities of a business, funding for which is applied for, are related to products, items or services in the General List of Military Equipment. These must be approved by Order No V-1216 of the Minister of National Defence ‘Regarding Approval of the General List of Military Equipment’, dated 29 December 2009.
Projects financed from INVEGA fund are not subject to the Do No Significant Harm principle.
All the applicable requirements are detailed in the Description.