The Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (AMC) has secured a further tranche of European Investment Bank (EIB) funding meaning farmers and estates can receive discounted margins for the term of a loan up to 10 years on certain qualifying capital investment projects.

This tranche of discounted funding will be available on a first come first served basis, so if you or your clients are considering any capital investment projects in the near future, an early application is recommended to increase your prospects of securing and benefitting from the discount.

Carter Jonas has specialist AMC Agents within the firm who can help to secure loans for variety of purposes and are available to discuss any opportunities in confidence.

Summary

To promote business sustainability and growth within the SME sector across Europe, the EIB is again providing funding to certain lending organisations at low commercial rates in return for onward lending to Small to Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) customers on a discounted basis.

AMC has been able to access this funding which enables them to offer discounted margins on loans for qualifying farm investment projects and have a limited amount available.

AMC can now offer a 0.80% (80 basis points) discount off their normal margins for a standard loan up to 10 years.

Criteria

A summary of the criteria is set out below:-

Discounted loans are subject to some qualifying criteria :

• Investment/project funding on a secured loan basis
• Minimum £25,500 – Maximum c.£11M (Euro 12.5M) against total project costs Euro 25M.
• SME must have 250 FTE staff or less, including all subsidiaries.
• Each project must have a start and end date, and be no more than 2 years in duration.
• No additional fees, penalties or clawback payable to EIB in event of early repayment.  (normal AMC fees apply)
• AMC existing credit policy will apply

AMC will offer discounted margins subject to the following:

• Applicable to the AMC standard loan only
• Flexible facility loan cannot be discounted
• Minimum (discounted) loan amount is £25,500
• Interest only and annuity, fixed and variable rates all qualify
• Discounted loans can be released in tranches – subject to the completion date of May 2015.
• A loan offer can be broken down to EIB eligible part and non-EIB part, detailed on Loan Offer schedule.

Example lending purposes

The following are examples of loan purposes that will qualify for the discounted rates. The range of loan purposes is wider than the examples shown so please check with your local AMC Agent on a proposal by proposal basis.

• Buildings – general purpose shed; hay/straw storage; livestock housing; grain store; potato store; poultry sheds; milking parlours.
• Equipment – grain drying; robotic milking equipment; milking parlour equipment; chicken shed equipment; vegetable processing lines; milk processing equipment.
• Vehicles – tractors; combines; potato harvesters; lorries.
• Renewables – Photovoltaic panels; wind turbines; hydro schemes/water turbines; anaerobic digesters.
• Storage – reservoirs; slurry store.
• General – opening or expansion of a farm shop; orchard establishment; dairy cows; purchase of wholesale business (max Euro 1M); farm field draining; research and development.

If you are looking at funding for a qualifying project or have any queries in relation to this article please contact your local Carter Jonas AMC Agent for a confidential and informal discussion without obligation.