STRATEGIC BANKING CORPORATION OF IRELAND
SBCI ENERGY EFFICIENCY LOAN SCHEME
NOTICE ACCOMPANYING UPDATED OPEN CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
PUBLISHED ON 28 FEBRUARY 2022
Please take note that the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (“SBCI”) has made certain amendments to the Open Call for Expression of Interest which was originally published on its website on 4 February 2022 (the “Original Call”) by publishing an updated Open Call for Expression of Interest on its website today, 28 February 2022 (the “Call”). Capitalised terms not otherwise defined in this Notice shall have the meanings assigned to them in the Call.
For ease of reference, we have set out below each of the material amendments which have been made to the Original Call:
1. On page 1, the Deadline Date has been extended to 14 March 2022.
2. At Section 1.1, the final two paragraphs have been deleted and have been replaced with the following text:
“The proposed €150m Scheme is being created as a pilot to act as a catalyst and gauge the level of demand for such a product from SMEs. This capped loan portfolio guarantee will be funded in part by the SBCI and will be backed by a Counter Guarantee which has already been granted to the SBCI by the European Investment Fund (“EIF”) under its COSME[1] program (the “EIF Counter-Guarantee”). Whilst the EIF Counter-Guarantee is currently available until 31st December 2022, the EIF has provided written confirmation to the SBCI that it will:
- extend the cover under the EIF Counter-Guarantee to 31st December 2023; and
- enter into an amendment agreement with the SBCI to formally record this agreement.
The expected launch of the Scheme will be Q2 2022 and (subject only to the exchange of an amendment agreement between the EIF and the SBCI in respect of the EIF Counter-Guarantee Agreement as referred to above), the Scheme will be available until 31st December 2023. Applicants are advised to assume that the Scheme shall be available until 31st December 2023 when submitting any response to this Call.”
3. At each of Section 3 and Section 3.2, beneath the respective “Stage 4 – Due Diligence and Completion” headings, the time limits set out for satisfaction of SBCI’s due diligence process and completion of the legal documentation shall commence from the updated date of publication of the Call, being 28 February 2022, as opposed to the date of publication of the Original Call.
4. At each of (i) Annex 1, Application Form No. 1 and (ii) Annex 1, Application Form No. 2, in the table of Financial Standing included at the end of each Application Form, the reference to “Total SME/Small Midcap Loan Book” has been deleted and has been replaced with the following:
- “Total SME Loan Book”.
5. At Annex 2 which sets out the Indicative Rules of the Scheme, under the heading “Loan and Borrower Features”, the eligibility criteria has been amended to record that:
- Loans are to be available up to 31 December 2023; and
- The final maturity date of a Loan must be on or before 30 December 2033.
6. At Annex 4 which sets out the Indicative Terms of the Guarantee Agreement, under the heading “Guarantee Term”, the reference to “30 December 2032” has been replaced with a reference to:
- 30 December 2033.
[1] Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), an initiative launched by the European Commission.