On 1 April 2025, the Slovenian Enterprise Fund (SEF) signed an agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF) for the acquisition of counter-guarantees, and on 28 May 2025 it signed an agreement for the acquisition of guarantees from the InvestEU Fund.
The InvestEU Fund was created as part of the comprehensive InvestEU Programme, which supports sustainable investment, innovation and new job opportunities in Europe. With a budget of EUR 26.2 billion for guarantees and counter-guarantees, the aim is to leverage more than EUR 372 billion of private investment in high priority EU policy areas.
SEF successfully applied for a guarantee and a counter-guarantee from the InvestEU Fund through the SME Competitiveness product, which aims to improve the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises by facilitating access to finance and increasing the availability of finance for companies perceived as high-risk or lacking adequate insurance.
To achieve this objective, SEF will offer SMEs increased access to its direct liquidity facilities as well as to bank loans secured by the SEF’s guarantees.
What are the benefits of the InvestEU Programme?
The signing of the InvestEU counter-guarantee agreement with the EIF has provided the SEF with reinsurance of the guarantees issued to secure SME bank loans with the banks cooperating with the SEF. Successful candidacy in the InvestEU Programme is of utmost importance for the SEF, as guarantees for the collateralisation of bank loans are the most important scheme of incentives for SMEs.
The SEF will be able to increase the tendered quotas by approximately 38% over the three-year agreement period due to the EIF counter-guarantees. During this period, the SEF expects to tender EUR 195 million in guarantees. The P1 plus 2025 call for tenders, under which EUR 65 million in guarantees and EUR 6.5 million in interest rate subsidies are available, is already open.
The signing of the InvestEU guarantee agreement with the EIF is also of paramount importance, as it provides collateral for the direct liquidity loans of the SEF.
The SEF will be able to increase the tendered quotas by approximately 51% over the three-year agreement period due to the EIF guarantees. During this period, the SEF expects to tender EUR 80 million of liquidity loans. The P7L 2025 call for tender is expected to open in November 2025.
Faster, easier and more affordable access to guarantees and loans for SMEs
The Fund’s guarantee issued to secure bank loans taken out by SMEs from one of the participating banks makes it easier, faster and more affordable for micro, small and medium-sized companies to access bank loans, which is particularly evident in the lower collateral requirements for loans, which often represent an additional expense for the entrepreneur.
The SEF liquidity loans provide micro, small and medium-sized companies with easier access to favorable sources of finance, with lower interest rates, a moratorium on loan repayments and a simplified approval process.
An excellent cooperation between the SEF and the EIF
The SEF has been working very successfully with the EIF for several years. The cooperation started in 2006 with counter-guarantees, and has further developed into a cooperation in guarantees, with a total of six contracts concluded until this year, covering a total of 7,386 projects.
In the context of counter-guarantees, the most recent cooperation between the SEF and the EIF was under the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs program (COSME) for the period 2016–2020, including 3,040 projects.
In the context of guarantees, the most recent cooperation took place in the period 2021–2022 under the Pan-European Guarantee Fund (EGF) including 1,099 projects.
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