By : Jennifer Thompson
Source : http://www.ft.com
Category : Small Business Grant
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f1a6790a-1f5f-11e1-9916-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1gfojgwa3
The nickname says it all – known as the “armed wing of the Treasury”, France’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations plays two crucial roles: safeguarding deposits in state-regulated savings accounts and helping to finance the country’s most promising small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Founded in 1816 and housed in a grand limestone mansion in Paris that overlooks the Seine towards the Jardin des Tuileries, the CDC has helped to anchor the French economy for almost two centuries.
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f1a6790a-1f5f-11e1-9916-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1gforrDTy
There is, however, a relatively new kid on the block. The FSI (Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement), France’s state-backed strategic investment fund, was launched in 2008 to help companies amid the global financial turmoil.
The current eurozone crisis will amplify its importance: French banks, which are being pummelled as the debt crisis intensifies, are shedding assets to shore up capital – a measure likely to put pressure on funding for SMEs.
While officials say they have not noted an increase in companies looking for state funding to support enterprise, they point to the challenge of ensuring that public channels in the European Union’s largest country by area remain clear and accessible.
“SMEs are not usually [found] in central Paris but in the regions,” says Jean-Yves Gilet, head of the FSI.
He says that when the FSI looked at the system of funding for SMEs, it appeared to be too complicated and did not facilitate quick decisions.
It was this realisation that prompted an overhaul in the relationship between the CDC, the FSI and business.
President Nicolas Sarkozy used the occasion of the FSI’s third anniversary last month to announce a streamlined process to make the availability of state funding clearer to local employers.
Entitled FSI-Régions, its aim is to counsel SMEs on whether debt or equity financing is suited to their needs and how to obtain it, while also monitoring projects to check whether the outcome has been successful. A single representative will act on behalf of the CDC, FSI and Oséo, the state bank that specialises in small business.
In partnership with Oséo, which already has a strong regional presence, the project was also given a further €350m ($456m) to invest as a fillip “to show we’re bold”, explains Mr Gilet.
“We are a motor of capital in France,” he adds. “Our responsibility is to help the entrepreneurs find the right way.”
The move highlights the increasingly close relationship between the FSI, which takes minority stakes in SMEs with the potential for growth, and the CDC, which invests in small businesses via funds based on the €20bn equity it has built up since 1816.
“There is no lack of tools, but they needed to be gathered under a single brand or umbrella,” a CDC insider says.
But the French state is also looking beyond public institutions to help SMEs diversify their sources of financing.
NYSE Euronext, the securities exchange operator, has introduced initiatives to give SMEs easier access to capital markets, after working with René Ricol, a national credit mediator appointed by President Sarkozy to help persuade banks to restore or grant loans to businesses.
“The ecosystem dedicated to SMEs is suffering and we need to attract investors back to this segment,” says Marc Lefèvre, head of European domestic listings coverage at NYSE Euronext.
Measures implemented in 2010 include improved advice for issuers and a reduction in the minimum amount of private placements required for admission to NYSE Alternext, the market designed for SMEs.
The project’s success can be measured by the big rise in the number of companies listing: while just two listed in 2009, the figure had risen to 24 the following year.
NYSE Euronext now plans to build on this by developing a pan-European offering for trading corporate bonds, designed for listed and unlisted SMEs, and raising awareness among entrepreneurs about the benefits of listing.
It is harder to gauge the impact of the FSI. Mr Gilet says it is too soon to evaluate the profitability of its investments and that it has a longer-term horizon for returns than a typical private equity fund.
It is similarly difficult to assess the effect of the crédit d’impôt recherché, France’s generous research tax credit that was spared in the recent budget measures, although analysts acknowledge that it plays a part in attracting inward investment.
Marc Lhermitte, an analyst at Ernst & Young, the consultancy, says: “Our tax experts at the European level rank it as the most competitive tax credit in Europe and it is considered a powerful incentive.”
What is clear, however, is the critical importance the French government attaches to nurturing its most promising SMEs, regarded as a motor of growth in the most challenging of economic climates.
“In the past 10 years, 2.8m jobs in France have been created, and 2.3m of these were from SMEs,” says Mr Lefèvre. “SMEs are innovation, growth and employment.”
Source : http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f1a6790a-1f5f-11e1-9916-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gfkpt4uS
Source : http://www.ft.com
Category : Small Business Grant
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f1a6790a-1f5f-11e1-9916-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1gfojgwa3
The nickname says it all – known as the “armed wing of the Treasury”, France’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations plays two crucial roles: safeguarding deposits in state-regulated savings accounts and helping to finance the country’s most promising small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Founded in 1816 and housed in a grand limestone mansion in Paris that overlooks the Seine towards the Jardin des Tuileries, the CDC has helped to anchor the French economy for almost two centuries.
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f1a6790a-1f5f-11e1-9916-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1gforrDTy
There is, however, a relatively new kid on the block. The FSI (Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement), France’s state-backed strategic investment fund, was launched in 2008 to help companies amid the global financial turmoil.
The current eurozone crisis will amplify its importance: French banks, which are being pummelled as the debt crisis intensifies, are shedding assets to shore up capital – a measure likely to put pressure on funding for SMEs.
While officials say they have not noted an increase in companies looking for state funding to support enterprise, they point to the challenge of ensuring that public channels in the European Union’s largest country by area remain clear and accessible.
“SMEs are not usually [found] in central Paris but in the regions,” says Jean-Yves Gilet, head of the FSI.
He says that when the FSI looked at the system of funding for SMEs, it appeared to be too complicated and did not facilitate quick decisions.
It was this realisation that prompted an overhaul in the relationship between the CDC, the FSI and business.
President Nicolas Sarkozy used the occasion of the FSI’s third anniversary last month to announce a streamlined process to make the availability of state funding clearer to local employers.
Entitled FSI-Régions, its aim is to counsel SMEs on whether debt or equity financing is suited to their needs and how to obtain it, while also monitoring projects to check whether the outcome has been successful. A single representative will act on behalf of the CDC, FSI and Oséo, the state bank that specialises in small business.
In partnership with Oséo, which already has a strong regional presence, the project was also given a further €350m ($456m) to invest as a fillip “to show we’re bold”, explains Mr Gilet.
“We are a motor of capital in France,” he adds. “Our responsibility is to help the entrepreneurs find the right way.”
The move highlights the increasingly close relationship between the FSI, which takes minority stakes in SMEs with the potential for growth, and the CDC, which invests in small businesses via funds based on the €20bn equity it has built up since 1816.
“There is no lack of tools, but they needed to be gathered under a single brand or umbrella,” a CDC insider says.
But the French state is also looking beyond public institutions to help SMEs diversify their sources of financing.
NYSE Euronext, the securities exchange operator, has introduced initiatives to give SMEs easier access to capital markets, after working with René Ricol, a national credit mediator appointed by President Sarkozy to help persuade banks to restore or grant loans to businesses.
“The ecosystem dedicated to SMEs is suffering and we need to attract investors back to this segment,” says Marc Lefèvre, head of European domestic listings coverage at NYSE Euronext.
Measures implemented in 2010 include improved advice for issuers and a reduction in the minimum amount of private placements required for admission to NYSE Alternext, the market designed for SMEs.
The project’s success can be measured by the big rise in the number of companies listing: while just two listed in 2009, the figure had risen to 24 the following year.
NYSE Euronext now plans to build on this by developing a pan-European offering for trading corporate bonds, designed for listed and unlisted SMEs, and raising awareness among entrepreneurs about the benefits of listing.
It is harder to gauge the impact of the FSI. Mr Gilet says it is too soon to evaluate the profitability of its investments and that it has a longer-term horizon for returns than a typical private equity fund.
It is similarly difficult to assess the effect of the crédit d’impôt recherché, France’s generous research tax credit that was spared in the recent budget measures, although analysts acknowledge that it plays a part in attracting inward investment.
Marc Lhermitte, an analyst at Ernst & Young, the consultancy, says: “Our tax experts at the European level rank it as the most competitive tax credit in Europe and it is considered a powerful incentive.”
What is clear, however, is the critical importance the French government attaches to nurturing its most promising SMEs, regarded as a motor of growth in the most challenging of economic climates.
“In the past 10 years, 2.8m jobs in France have been created, and 2.3m of these were from SMEs,” says Mr Lefèvre. “SMEs are innovation, growth and employment.”
Source : http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f1a6790a-1f5f-11e1-9916-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gfkpt4uS
