The Fundación de Estudios Bursátiles y Financieros (Foundation for Stock Market and Financial Studies (FEBF)) and its group of partners held a conference to discuss the latest developments in European funds, together with the Andersen team.

The presentation was given by Rafael Ripoll, Of Counsel at Andersen and the presentations were given by Carlos Mínguez, Partner of the Public and Regulatory Law Department and Head of Funds and Public Aid at Andersen and Ignacio Aparicio, Partner in charge of the Corporate Law Department at Andersen.

At the opening, Rafael Ripoll spoke of the importance of European funds in the economic recovery. "We need to know what the different options are for the business world with regard to Next Generation aid and how these European funds are intended to be channelled and implemented to help SMEs".

Carlos Mínguez then focused on detailing the content, most relevant measures and implementation schedule of the Spanish Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR in Spanish).

"The assessment of the Plan is incredibly positive for the Commission's technical services. The Plan foresees support measures for most of the productive sectors through direct or indirect support measures to be implemented, in successive phases, throughout this Recovery Plan".

The second speaker, Ignacio Aparicio, focused on the funds aimed at financing projects to reactivate the economy after the pandemic through different mechanisms, both purely financial and through participation by public entities.

He also detailed the financing tools for projects managed with public capital such as SEPI, COFIDES, or SEPIDES; their characteristics, and the role of private capital in this post-pandemic recovery. "The development of the Venture Capital industry in Spain is opening new financing doors.  Venture Capital is gaining in size and is a valid formula to consider when carrying out the economic recovery".

Aparicio has highlighted the good start of the year 2021, where the first quarter has starred in the same volume of investment as during the entire previous year (€1 billion). "It is not only the quarter with the highest investment volume, but also the second most active quarter in the history of Spanish private equity, with 93 deals underway during the period.”

To conclude, the speakers agreed that it is most likely that, once the summer is over, the Spanish business fabric will begin to benefit from these European funds. "There is a Proposal for a Decision and a very favourable Evaluation, it is only a question of waiting for the effective national development of the implementation measures already planned", Mínguez assured.

"In this aspect, the private initiative is going much faster than the aid from the public point of view, but I agree with your timetable", Aparicio concluded.

The different Meeting Forums of the Fundación de Estudios Bursátiles y Financieros share ideas and initiatives for improvement among professionals and leading managers, giving visibility to experts and training of interest to the Valencian financial market.

In the first five months of 2021, the Foundation has carried out 26 activities on specialised topics in legal-economic matters, of which 2 have been Online Courses, 5 Faptech and 9 Webinars from the Foundation's multimedia platform, as well as 10 conferences in Streaming in collaboration with its General Council of Members.