The Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund, the investment vehicle for financing infrastructure projects

Bucharest, November 28, 2019 – The strategic and legal framework of the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund (3SIIF) position this new vehicle as an accelerator for implementing ambitious projects in priority domains for the Three Seas Region such as transport infrastructure, energy and digital infrastructure, declared the 3SIIF representatives during the Region’s needs and the role of the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund” conference organized in Bucharest.

This is the first event promoting 3SIIF activity after its incorporation in May 2019 by the Polish state owned development bank Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) and Romanian Government through EximBank, as an economic arm of the political decision of the head of states and governments in the region of the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas, in order to stimulate the large investment projects in this area.

The itinerant event will be hosted in other capital cities of the countries in the region and represents an opportunity for the investment environment to directly gain awareness about the functioning mechanisms of the 3SIIF, its commercial and market targets, the investment advisers and the workflows for the mature projects to gain access to financing. 

The financial resources of the 3SIIF come from the founding entities, BGK and EximBank Romania, with a total contribution of over 500 Million Euro. Further funds may come from development banks and institutions from other Three Seas Initiative countries, supra-national investors, international investors and the Fund will also closely cooperate with World Bank, European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

“The meeting in Bucharest is starting the process of building public awareness of the Three Seas Fund – a new financial instrument, complementary to the EU instruments funds, although based on commercial rules. Three Seas Fund is dedicated to support investments to fill in the infrastructure gaps still exiting between Western and Eastern part of Europe. Together with Romania we establish this financial vehicle, other 10 countries are in the decision process of joining. Romania is for us a very important partner in the Three Seas region and Romania’s rapid development is in the interest of the entire EU.”, said Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka, the President of the Supervisory Board of the 3SIIF.

“We created the Three Seas Fund to contribute to the implementation of many infrastructure projects in the area of transport, energy and digital in Romania, as well as in other countries of Three Seas region. Thanks to transport investments the region will benefit from increased trade. We will enhance security through better connected energy infrastructure from north to south. We really need to strengthen the competitiveness of our region, only this way we can achieve cohesion and sustainably developed EU.”, added Daszyńska-Muzyczka.

”Due to the exceptional efforts of its founders – BGK from Poland and EximBank from  Romania – during the past months, the 3SIIF is just about to operational, demonstrating our full commitment towards an investment vehicle that can have a critical contribution to the economic and social development of our region. At the same time, we are now in various stages of negotiations with other countries from the Three Seas region to join the fund.”, said Nicolae Albu, Member of the Supervisory Board of the 3SIIF.

”In this respect and in order to bring awareness on the framework, the scope and the objectives of the 3SIIF, we have started a series of promotional events in the Three Seas Initiative countries. At the same time, we see these conferences as an invitation to the decision-makers in the Three Seas countries to design and promote bankable, large-scale infrastructure projects. The 3SIIF is meant to narrow the development gap among various regions of Europe. Having such an ambitious mission, it will not only benefit the 3SI countries, but also the European Union as a whole.”, added Nicolae Albu.

3SIIF intends to implement projects in priority domains for the Three Seas Region such as transport infrastructure (e.g., railroads, internal navigation, ports, highways etc.), energy and digital infrastructure, of an aggregated value 100 Billion Euro. The projects have various implementation stages, the financing covering a large investment scale from greenfield, or early stages, to equity, participation in special purpose investment vehicles or subordinated debts.

The Investment Fund of the Three Seas Initiative will support and supplement the programs financed with European funds thus contributing to increase competitiveness in the European Union. The fund’s resources will add on to national budgets and European funding in the region, as the investment strategy allows the involvement in several projects at the same time.

Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) is a Polish state development bank that initiates and implements projects promoting economic growth in Poland and enhancing the quality of citizens’ lives.  BGK develops guarantees and sureties schemes that contribute to commercial development. One of the important tasks of BGK is also to support the activities of Polish companies abroad. BGK manages European programs and distributes EU funds at the national and regional level. BGK is also involved in programs aiming at improving access to housing on the residential market.

EximBank has been actively involved for more than 25 years in supporting and promoting the Romanian business environment by endorsing the local companies’ projects. Starting up as an export agency, EximBank has evolved and extended this role keeping its unique profile on the market. Acting as Romanian state agent for guarantees and insurance, EximBank is the main channel for infusing the Romanian state funds into the real economy in order to sustain increasing competitiveness of local companies.

Three Seas Initiative is a political platform of 12 EU Member States situated between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. These countries cover 28% of the EU’s territory and 22% of its population (111 million people).

The goals of the Three Seas Initiative are:

• To boost connectivity within the region, in particular on energy, transport infrastructure, and digital communication;

• To stimulate economic development, contributing to east–west and north–south cohesion within the European Union;

• To facilitate achieving real convergence among EU Member States and strengthen the European Union as a whole.

The European Commission recognizes the contribution of the Three Seas Initiative to regional development, which leads to greater cohesion of the Union as a whole.