ΤΕΠΙΧ ΙΙΙ

The Cooperative Bank of Chania, continuing to support small and medium-sized enterprises, participates in the new business funds “TEPIX III” managed by the Hellenic Development Bank (HDB S.A.). The Bank offers the new financial tools of TEPIX III to very small, small, and medium enterprises, supporting their investment plans and liquidity through the TEPIX III Loan Fund.

The Cooperative Bank of Chania participates in the “TEPIX III Loan Fund” providing loans on favorable terms to meet the financing needs of businesses based in Greece, with the aim of enhancing their productive activity and improving their competitiveness. This action involves the granting of new loans on favorable terms to SMEs for meeting their financing needs (investment purpose loans and working capital for the expansion and development of business activity) with resources from the Bank and the Co-financing Fund managed by the HDB. These are term loans with preferential interest rates. 40% of the loan, which comes from the Fund’s capital, is interest-free, while a reduced borrowing cost is foreseen for the bank’s interest rate applied to 60% of the granted amount.”

Until the resources are exhausted or at the latest until 31-12-2029.

Contracts can be signed within three months from the date of HDB approval. The first disbursement (total or partial) is made within four months from the signing of the contract.

i. Under the de-minimis aid regime (EU) 2831/2023 or

ii. Under the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) (EU) 651/2014.

Reduced collateral requirements due to the participation of the fund

For the financing of all types of expenses, it is mandatory to submit a business plan and related expense documents to ensure their correlation with the submitted business plan and the achievement of the Fund’s objectives. In Subprogram 1 (investment loans), the business plan also includes a description of the investment (investment plan).

Eligible expenses must not have been incurred (invoice payment) before the financing application is submitted to the Bank. Specifically:

Enterprises for which the following conditions (Eligibility Criteria) cumulatively apply at the date of approval-inclusion in the Loan Portfolio and the signing of the Loan Agreement:

1. They are Very Small, Small, and Medium-sized enterprises according to the definition of SMEs in Annex I of Regulation 651/2014 as it applies.
2. They operate legally in Greece (possessing the necessary operating license, if required).
3. They engage in any eligible NACE code.
4. They meet the eligibility criteria and aid accumulation limits depending on the applicable State Aid Regulation.
5. They are creditworthy according to the applicable credit policy.
6. They have not received rescue or restructuring aid, or the enterprise has received rescue aid but has repaid the loan and terminated the guarantee agreement, or the enterprise has received restructuring aid which has been completed.
7. They are not considered troubled (as per Article 1, para. 4 and point 18 of Article 2 of Regulation 651/2014 as applicable) at the time of granting the aid (at the level of the single enterprise).
8. They are in good standing with banks (i.e., with a delay of less than or equal to ≤ 90 days at the date of the application).
9. They are not subject to exclusion reasons of Article 40 of Law 4488/17 (A 137/139/17) as applicable.
10. They are tax and insurance compliant both at the time of submission of the expression of interest application through the HDB’s KYC and at the time of loan disbursement. Additionally, they do not present insolvency according to the kept records of TIRESIAS S.A. both at the time of submission of the expression of interest application through the HDB’s KYC and at the time of loan disbursement.
11. There is no recovery order pending against them for previous illegal and incompatible state aid based on an EU or CJEU decision.
12. If they have been included in HDB (former ETEAN) programs that have ended or are in force, they have not shown adverse transaction behavior in repaying their debts (loan termination or overdue debts for a period equal to or greater than 90 days) or have shown adverse transaction behavior (loan termination) but have fully repaid their debts before the submission of the financing application, or if it is a guarantee program, the guarantee debt has not been paid by HDB, or if this debt has been certified to the competent Tax Office, it has been included in a settlement scheme which continues to be in force at the date of the financing application.
13. They have registered in the Real Beneficiaries Register of Article 20 of Law 4557/2018 (A΄ 139) as it applies before the date of the financing application submission, except for cases of beneficiaries who are explicitly exempt from this obligation and provide relevant documentation.
14. They have completed the self-assessment process for ESG Criteria in the HDB’s ESG Tracker and have submitted to the Bank at the time of the financing application the ESG Tracker Performance in PDF format where the enterprise’s performance in these criteria is reflected.

For Action 1.2 (GBER): These are Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), according to the definition set out in Annex I of Regulation 651/2014, as applicable, and at the time of inclusion meet at least one of the following three conditions:

a) They do not conduct activities in any market;

b) They have been operating in any market for any of the following: i) less than 10 years after their registration, or ii) less than 7 years after their first commercial sale;

c) They require initial investment which, based on a business plan prepared for a new economic activity, is higher than 50% of their average annual turnover for the previous five years.

• In the primary production of fishery and aquaculture products.
• In the primary production of agricultural products.
• In the processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products.
• In the production and trade of weapons and ammunition.
• In the manufacture, processing, and marketing of tobacco and tobacco products.
• Casinos and gambling/betting.
• In Health Technology activities related to human cloning for research or therapeutic purposes and Genetically Modified Organisms/Foods.
• In Information Technology activities related to online cash gambling, casinos, and illegal activities (pornography, illegal hacking into electronic networks, illegal misappropriation of electronic data).
• In the decommissioning or construction of nuclear power stations.
• In illegal activities according to national law.

Additionally, are also excluded

•  Public Legal Entities, Local Government Organizations of the 1st and 2nd degree, Municipal and Public Enterprises, Public Organizations.
•  Offshore companies or holding companies in other companies.
•  Enterprises in the financial sector.
•  Legal Entities or Associations of Persons or Non-Profit Companies (societies, associations, clubs, NGOs, etc.).
•  Enterprises listed on the stock exchange.
•  Enterprises that have been subjected to collective insolvency proceedings or meet the criteria, according to domestic law, to be subjected to collective insolvency proceedings at the request of their creditors.
• Troubled enterprises.