The recapitalization fund for small and medium-sized companies managed by Cofides has shelved by distributing 779 million euros to 89 companies in one year of operation. Which means having granted 78% of the 1,000 million that it had available. Some aid, which according to what the entity dependent on the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism has reported today, have made it possible to preserve 36,942 direct jobs.
But many other companies have been left without access to state support despite the more than two hundred million left. Specifically, the applications of 54 companies worth 446 million euros have been ruled out. As explained this Monday by the general director of Cofides, Rodrigo Madrazo, this is because “some have not managed to pass the risk analysis or directly did not meet the requirements.”
Others, Madrazo added, “managed to recover from the impact of the pandemic and decided to withdraw their request.”
In total, Cofides has received 143 financing requests for a value of 1,356 million euros. “All the requests have been considered, none have been left in the pipeline,” remarked the president of Cofides, José Luis Curbelo. Some of these requests, as this newspaper advanced, came from the SEPI rescue fund for strategic companies, including the Albastar airline and the Basque hotel company Silken.
By type of company, a total of 36 of those rescued were SMEs that accumulated 5,006 jobs, while the remaining 53 were non-SMEs, with 31,836 jobs. Most of the operations were carried out through participating loans, with 582 million euros (75% of the total), although the remaining 25% (197 million euros) were carried out through ordinary loans.
However, the fund that rescued the Pachá nightclub with 18 million euros has not concluded its activity. Now, you must supervise the spending of the aid provided to monitor “that what was agreed is fulfilled” in order to recover public financing “by all Spaniards to companies.”
During the presentation of these data, the Secretary of State for Commerce, Xiana Méndez, was also present, who highlighted that the SME recapitalization fund has been a ‘key’ instrument for companies that they considered viable, “although their solvency was compromised in the short and medium term as a consequence of Covid-19».
