Regional Government creates "Capitalizar Açores" programme to support SMEs
Ponta Delgada
Secretaria Regional das Finanças, Planeamento e Administração Pública
The Regional Government, through the Regional Secretariat for Finance, Planning and Public Administration, has created the "Capitalizar Açores" programme, a new public aid measure for the capitalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based in the Azores.
This innovative programme differs from national counterparts by including, in addition to enterprises, cooperatives and associations with commercial purposes, as well as a complementary non-refundable measure.
With an initial allocation of 50 million Euros from the Azores Business Capitalisation Fund (FCEA), created by the XIII Regional Government with Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) appropriations, the programme will promote investment in regional companies and improve their capitalisation.
In a first phase, risk capital funds will be created, which will be subscribed by financial intermediaries, such as venture capital companies. Each venture capital fund will have, at least, a 30% private stake, with the remainder being co-funded by the FCEA.
Applications to be submitted by financial intermediaries for the first phase of the creation of venture capital funds through Banco Português de Fomento, as the managing entity of FCEA, are open until April 26.
After information sessions held on all islands, the venture capital funds set up will make equity and quasi-equity investments, contributing to the reduction of companies’ indebtedness and reinforcing their financial autonomy.
Additionally, companies may apply for a non-refundable grant, which will complement their capitalisation.
The notice for the "Capitalizar Açores" programme (no.01/C05-i04-RAA/2022) is available on the RRP website (https://recuperarportugal.gov.pt), the Banco Português de Fomento (https://www.bpfomento.pt/pt/) and the FCEA website (https://fcea.financas.azores.gov.pt).
For further information, those who are interested may the FCEA website or contact the Regional Directorate for Support to the Investment and Competitiveness at [email protected] or by telephone 296 309 100.
