Business

SEGIP makes 100 million euros available to Slovenia’s SMEs

Hoping to attract more foreign investors, the Slovenian Equity Growth Investment Programme (SEGIP) is offering funds worth 100 million euros to small and medium-sized companies as well as those providing for up to 3,000 full-time jobs.

The programme has been financed by the European Investment Fund (EIF) and Slovenia’s SID export and development bank.

“The initiative for the SEGIP had come after the crisis revealed a major deficiency in private equities in Slovenia”, explained SID’s CEO Sibil Svilan.

The goal of the programme is to provide equity financing to the small, medium-sized and mid-cap companies as well as attract foreign private investors and strengthen local capabilities by supporting the up-and-coming managers of Slovenia-based entities whose investments are focussed on Slovenia.

“Small and medium-sized companies are the engine of the Slovenian economy and because of the lack of private capital funds many of them failed to realise their potential”, added Luka Podlogar, CEO of KD funds, the company managing EIF private capital funds.