Loans Billion for Business

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.

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.

In order to obtain a loan, one is to apply to ILTE 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@ilte.lt. 

Priority is given to project co-financing with other financial institutions or international financial institutions. For this purpose, ILTE will approach financing parties indicated by the company. Such an approach does not create ILTE'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.

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.

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.

ATTENTION! 30-08-2024 UAB "Investicijų ir verslo garantijos" became UAB ILTE.

* Detailed explanations are given in Annex 4 to the Description.
** The business plan must describe the activities carried out and/or planned to be carried out, the current and forecast financial condition of the business entity, the proposal on the schedule of loan instalments and security for the loan, the description of investments and documents supporting the investments, if any. Forecasts (calculations) of financial activities must also be provided, reflecting the possibility of the business entity to make timely payments of all instalments under all current and future financial liabilities of the business entity throughout the entire term of the loan.
*** In all cases, at least one certificate must be submitted that is signed by a bank licensed in the Republic of Lithuania (or a branch of a foreign bank licensed in the EU or the European Economic Area, established in Lithuania) or an international institution, and at least one – signed by a financial undertaking.

The required documents are detailed in the Description. Look for documents in the Lithuanian version.

ATTENTION! 30-08-2024 UAB "Investicijų ir verslo garantijos" became UAB ILTE.

• Instrument description (LT language)

Legislation

• Order on the approval of the incentive financial instrument "Billion for business" scheme
• Regulatory legislation