Financing projects with EU support

You will probably need the assistance of the bank for initial financing of the project, as the support of European Union funds are paid at the end of the project.

SEB has a lot of experience in applying for money from European Union programmes. We cooperate with most of the consultation companies that consult European Union support projects.

We help you to prepare your project and the support application. We also offer you project management and monitoring services in cooperation with our partners in the case of larger projects.

Contact a Client Executive when you start preparing the project

Project expenditure may divide in eligible and ineligible. Eligible expenditure is determined in legislation.

The amount of European Union support is calculated on the basis of eligible expenditure.

Example of how the amount of support is calculated

The total cost of the project is 50,000 euros, 75% of which or 37,500 euros is eligible expenditure. The maximum support that may be given to the project is 50%. This means that European Union support amounts to 18,750 euros or 50% of 37,500. The company must cover the remaining project expenditure (31,250 euros) from is own funds or find a co-financier for the project.

You can finance the project with bridge financing and long-term financing

• We offer bridge financing in the same amount as the European Union support. The loan is paid out to you after the implementing agency (e.g. Enterprise Estonia) has made a positive decision about supporting the project. You will repay the loan to the bank after receiving the European Union support.
   
• You can use long-term financing to cover the remaining project expenditure that the European Union will not support. You can use an investment loan or leasing for long-term financing.

Projects with European Union support may differ slightly depending on the project and the support measure. Usually, you have to go through nine stages to implement a project.

1. Develop the idea of you project.
2. Prepare a development project or business plan for your idea. SEB can give you useful advice when you’re still preparing the project.
3. Prepare a financing scheme. It would be good if you contacted SEB immediately when you start preparing a project, so that we can find the best solution for financing the project together. We also help you to prepare the project plan and support applications.
   Apply for financing from the bank. Get all the required documents and submit them to the Client Executive. The purpose of these documents is to give the bank a detailed overview of the current situation as well as the planned investment – what, why and how are you planning to do. We prepare the financing contract if our response is positive.
4. Complete the preparations for the project if necessary: building design, detailed plans or research.
5. Submit a support application to the relevant implementing agency. For example, the implementing agency for enterprise support is Enterprise Estonia.
   The implementing agency makes a decision about supporting the project and informs you as the applicant thereof. You have to pass on the implementing agency’s decision to the bank.
6. You can start implementing the project with the financing received from the bank if the implementing agency’s decision was positive.
7. Submit the relevant reports to the implementing agency after you have completed your project. The implementing agency has the right to check whether or not the project was implemented.
8. The support is transferred to your account.
9. You have to repay the bridge financing received from the bank with the support you received.