According to Europa Press, Banca Marchthe European Investment Fund and Oquendo Capital are jointly preparing the launch of a fund, with a fundraising target of EUR 100 million, to finance projects of small and medium-sized enterprises in Spain and Portugal.

Following the success of the first vehicle of this kind, which was backed by a EUR 50 million investment from Oquendo and is fully committed, the new fund, named Oquendo Mezzanine II, will provide alternative long-term financing and preferred equity to medium-sized companies in Spain and Portugal due to «las dificultades que éstas encuentran hoy día para financiar sus proyectos».

Specifically, the fund, which will begin operations early this year, will invest between 5 and 15 million euros per transaction, and expects around twelve investments over four years. Oquendo will provide long-term financing and preferred equity through a variety of flexible instruments.

Banca March has decided to participate in Oquendo Mezzanine II, after an exhaustive analysis and evaluation of the investment potential, and will therefore give its customers access to it through a conversion proposal, one of the bank's investment characteristics.

«La actividad de los fondos de Oquendo como proveedores de financiación alternativa y su función como catalizador del crecimiento empresarial han sido factores fundamentales para la incorporación de Banca March al proyecto», subraya el director general de Wealth Banking of the entity, Hugo Aramburu.

For its part, the European Investment Fund will contribute 33% of the capital, constituting «un inversor de referencia» and continuing in Spain its policy of supporting independent teams specialising in the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises. Thus, Richard Pelly, CEO of the EIF stated that «el objetivo es apoyar a las pymess a lo largo de su ciclo de vida».

Para Alfonso Erhardt, uno de los socios fundadores de Oquendo Capital, «es muy importante  contar con el compromiso de una entidad como Banca March, que ha destacado en esta crisis por haber sido muy restrictiva en su política de riesgos y por demostrar su fortaleza».

It should be noted that for the time being the remaining investors are institutional investors such as pension funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors. Soon, we will be able to see how these types of vehicles will be accessible to individual and smaller investors who are also looking for alternative opportunities to those offered by banks.