As one of the measures taken to curb the fallout of the corona crisis, the Dutch Cabinet has made available a line of credit totalling 100 million euros to be used by start-ups, scale-ups and innovative SMEs. (Digital) Application for these so-called COLs (corona bridge loans) has been open from 09.00 a.m. on 29 April. The regional development agencies or ROMs have been put in charge of implementation of the COL scheme, as a facility to be used by the target group for taking out bridge loans ranging from 50,000 euros to 2 million euros each on favourable terms. Applications for loans from 250,000 euros upwards will require the shareholders or other financial backers in question to put up 25 percent of the total amount that is being applied for. The COL interest rate has been fixed at three percent per annum. The beneficial term of a COL amounts to three years, with the borrower having the option of early repayment. Every effort will be made to limit the processing time for applications for bridge loans of up to 500,000 euros each to four to nine working days.
The start-up, scale-up or innovative SME in question needs to be able to show that its prospects for the future are those of a sustainable and strong operation whose COL application has been sparked by the current economic situation. The following details are to be supplied when filing the application:
- elaboration of the correlation between the corona crisis and the liquidity requirement;
- financial statements for the years 2018 and 2019;
- original budget for 2020;
- existing loan agreements;
- business plan;
- up-to-date liquidity forecast on a 12-month projection basis;
- elaboration and itemisation of monthly (cash) burn rate-cum-runway.
COL applications are to be made digitally.
Dutch version: Aanvragen corona-overbruggingslening mogelijk vanaf 29 april