coopest_en

COOPEST COMPANY

COOPEST was set up in October 2005 in Brussels as a limited liability company governed by Belgian law, by several financial institutions active in the field of the Social Economy sector in Belgium, France, Italy and Poland, having altogether  signed the Cracow Declaration from 28 October 2004.

Additional partners such as international/European institutions and other Development Finance Institutions are currently assessing their participation to the CoopEst Finance Facility. Their participation will be made public very soon.

THE FOUNDING MEMBERS

1. CREDIT COOPERATIF, a Co-operative Bank – Groupe Banques Populaires – (under French law), registered in Nanterre/France (33 rue des Trois Fontanot, F-92000 Nanterre).
2. IDES INVESTISSEMENTS SA, a Joint-Stock Company (under French law), registered in Nanterre/France (10/12 rue des Trois Fontanot, F-92000 Nanterre).
3. SOFICATRA, a Limited Company by shares (under Belgian law), registered in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre/Belgium (avenue Jules César, 2 boîte 7, B-1150 Bruxelles);
4. COMPAGNIA FINANZIARIA INDUSTRIALE (CFI), a Co-operative Society by shares (under Italian law), registered in Rome/Italy (Via Vicenza 5/A, I-00185 Roma).
5. MACIF PARTICIPATIONS, a Simplified Joint Stock Company (under french law), registered in Paris/France (22-28 rue Joubert, F-75009 France).
6. BANK INICJATYW SPOLECZNO-EKONOMICZNYCH (BISE), a Limited Company by shares (under Polish law), registered in Warsaw/Poland (Ul Dubois 5a, PL-00184 Warszawa).
7. SOCIETA EUROPEA FINANZA ETICA ED ALTERNATIVA (SEFEA), a Co-operative Society (under Italian Law) registered in Trento/Italy (Via Segantini 5, I-38100 Trento),

Objectives

• COOPEST is a financial facility aiming at initiating and fostering the development of co-operatives, mutual societies, associations, foundations and social enterprises (which together can be referred to as Social Economy"). The target countries of CoopEst in Central and Eastern Europe are Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

• The creation of COOPEST is based on the evidence that the access to long-term financing (private and public) in Central and Eastern Europe is still very limited and difficult for Small and Medium enterprises (SME) – mainly due to the weakness of their financial structure.

• Therefore, CoopEst aims to provide long-term financial support both in terms of equity (subordinated loan), long-term loans and guarantees to sustainable and socially responsible projects in the target countries enabling them to leverage further funding for the development of their activities.

Creation of a development Fund for the Social Economy Enterprises in the CEEC.

• Gather in KRAKOW on the occasion of the second Social Economy Conference in Central and Eastern Europe and as a follow up of the initiative launched two years ago on the occasion of the Social Economy Conference in Prague by the CREDIT COOPERATIF, the CREDIT MUTUEL, ESFIN, SOFICATRA and COOPFOND, the signatories of this declaration have decided the creation, under the name of COOPEST, of Development Fund in favour of the countries which have just joined the European Union or that will do it soon.

• Through this initiative, they want to express their solidarity with the reappearing Social Economy in these countries. They thus wish to contribute to the rebuilding and the development of the co-operatives, mutual insurance societies, associations and foundations so that they can take part in the construction of a society in which economic and social progress should go hand in hand.

• The Social Economy federations, unions and organisations representatives of the countries concerned are invited to subscribe to this initiative to which the signatories of the declaration wish to associate them.

• The signatories expect that the EU institutions, in particular of the European Commission, the European Bank and the European Investment Fund and other financing international institutions as well as governments and institutions of the concerned countries, to support this initiative by bringing the necessary financial assistance to enable us to reach our goal.

AIM OF THE FUND

• The aim is to promotion and support the activity of the existing enterprises, facilitate their development and support the creation of new enterprises in the countries which have just join the European Union or which are in process of adhesion and which due to their specificities have faced difficulties to be financed.
  The object of the Fund is to allow these social economy enterprises to reinforce their own capital stocks and to access to medium and long term financial sources which they need.

• INTERVENTIONS OF THE FUND
  The interventions of the Funds will be carried out, according to methods taking account to the different national or local contexts, in the framework of a multi level diagram with the financial institutions network heads assigning global amounts, allocated according to the pre-established rules to local financial intermediaries that grant the competition to the final enterprise beneficiaries of the project.
  
  They are primarily foreseen in two forms:

1. The contributions in own capital stocks or quasi-equity in the form of subordinate loans.
2. Interventions as guarantee or counter-guarantee of bank loan.
   The selected diagram must allow a management as close to the target aim as possible and benefit from the lever effect.

• OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF THE FUND
  The Fund will have an Orientation Committee regrouping the political bodies, a central financial body regrouping the investors and an animation/training unit responsible for the technical support to the local management financial middlemen.
  The Orientation Committee will define the intervention priority political lines of the Fund.  It will be made up of the representatives of the EU and CEEC social economy movements and the European institutions.
  The central financial operator will be made up of representatives of the Fund contributory organisations.  It will put in place the general policy worked out by the Orientation Committee.  This operator will be the only one allowed to invest on behalf of the Fund.  It will be able, in a later stage, to delegate its power to the national operators for the less relevant issues.

          The central financial operator will also be in charge of:

• Federate the different national experiences, list the best practices and if possible disseminate them;
• Guide the development of the network;
• Organise the local and international financial partnership round tables.

• MEANS OF THE FUND
  Must allow answering to the double aim of the Fund: contribution in own capital and interventions in guarantee.

1. Own capital section
   On the basis of the retained facts starting from a partial census carried out in a certain number of countries (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia) in which actions are currently considered, the objective of the Fund is to mobilise a total financial amount of 30 M€ for the four next years and 100 M€ for the next 7-8 years.This wide vision should allow, taking into account the multiplier effects, to reach a much more important amount.
   Initially the signatories commit themselves to contribute with a 1st sum of 8M€ part in capital, part as a subordinate loan or equity loan, deposits or capital investments intended to invest directly or indirectly, in the central financial structure the necessary means for the launching of the first national projects. These first 8 million will paid by instalments of 2 M€ allocated according to the projects presented and accepted by the authorities of Fund COOPEST.
2. Guarantee section
   The foreseen device will be able to be based at the beginning on the mutual guarantee fund "the solidarity based guarantee" created by the Crédit Coopératif on behalf of the FEBEA (European Federation of the Ethical and Alternative Banks).
   The negotiations in progress with the European Investment Fund (EIF) to obtain a counter-guarantee should make possible to increase the current capacities of intervention of the Funds.The institutions launchers of the Fund call upon the organisations which adhere to the objective of the Fund to join them while contributing to its financing.

SIGNATORIES:

• CREDIT COOPERATIF – co-operative bank (France),
• CREDIT MUTUAL – co-operative bank (France),
• MACIF - mutual insurance (France),
• ESFIN-IDES – risk capital enterprise (France),
• SOFICATRA - European risk / venture capital company (Belgium),
• SEFEA - risk capital enterprise (Italy) and
• BISE BANK - banks (national Polish partner)