Support to Investments in ICT Sector Programme

1. Programme Objective

Objective of this Programme is financing new and existing companies, entrepreneurs in the ICT sector.

Credit support is intended for investments for improving the ICT infrastructure, development of new products and services in this area, as well as a business model based on information technology.

2. Loan Purpose

Loans are intended for investments in fixed assets - tangible assets (infrastructure, equipment ...), intangible assets (product or service development, patents, licenses, concessions, copyrights, franchises...) and working capital.

IDF may finance up to 70,00% of the total investment value (taking into account the specificity of ICT activities it is possible to finance earnings under contracts for engaging employees who are directly or indirectly involved in product development).

Loan amount dedicated to investing in working capital may be up to 30,00% of the total loan amount.

Financial support shall not be approved for the following purposes:

· Parts of investments intended for meeting personal needs;

· Acquisition of shares in other companies, stocks and other securities;

· Completed investments intended for loan obligations refinancing;

· Participation in projects violating internationally recognized employee rights, including safety at work, rules and procedures in Montenegro;

· Trading;

· Immoral and illegal activities.

NOTE: For financing projects based on new products or services that may be treated as innovation, beneficiary must provide special, detailed business plan. For this type of products or services a corresponding certificate on registration of the product or service in subject with the competent body needs to be provided.

3. Loan Beneficiaries

Loan beneficiaries may be new or existing business entities, entrepreneurs from the ICT sector.

End beneficiaries of these loan arrangements may be entities that have obtained a confirmation from the Tax Administration on their tax arrears.

If the applicant is a start-up company, the company itself and founders of companies may not hold more than 20,00% of the share in another company, while in the case of entrepreneurs, the same must not hold share in another business entity of more than 20,00%.

Right to a loan is not a guaranteed right and IDF MN JSC shall enact a decision on each Loan Application.

4. Lending Method

IDF MN JSC implements this Programme through direct lending to the loan beneficiaries.

Loan Applications that are not supported with mandatory defined documents shall not be taken into consideration.

5. Loan Conditions

A) Lending conditions:

· Maximum amount up to € 1.000.000,00 (for start-up companies up to € 50.000,00; for entrepreneurs up to € 30.000,00);

· Interest rate of 3% annually with the proportional interest calculation method;

· Maximum term of 12 years (including grace period);

· Grace period up to 4 years.

Special lending conditions:

For subjects implementing projects in northern municipalities of Montenegro and in municipalities that are below the average value of the development index in Montenegro, the interest rate amounts to 2,00% on an annual level with proportional interest calculation method.

Special incentives will be approved to business entities that regularly settle their tax liabilities, i.e. are on the "white list" of the competent state body or have provided confirmation that they duly settle their tax obligations by meeting the criteria to be found on the "white list", in the form of reduced interest rates by 0.50% (it is necessary to provide confirmation of the state body or an official document of the state body which will be submitted to the IDF MN JSC).

Current direct beneficiaries of IDF MN JSC loan may re-apply for additional funds provided that total IDF debt under direct loan arrangements with a single client matches its balance sheet ratios.

Full exposure to one client including all connected persons shall be defined by the internal acts of IDF.

In case of a direct loan arrangement that is fully or partially supported by a bank guarantee, cash collateral or State (municipality) guarantee, such loan arrangement or its proportional part shall not be considered as exposure of the end beneficiary.

6. Fees

Fee amount:

0,40% on the approved amount for subjects implementing projects in northern municipalities of Montenegro and in municipalities that are below the average value of the development index in Montenegro;
0,60% on the amount approved for projects implemented in other municipalities.

7. Utilization of Loan

Loan utilization period is up to 24 months.

Final utilization period shall be established on the case-by-case basis for each individual loan arrangement dependent on the real needs and the dynamics of investing.

Loan beneficiaries shall be obliged to a dedicated usage of loan funds in accordance with this programme and agreement signed between IDF MN JSC and loan beneficiary.

IDF MN JSC shall perform control of the dedicated usage of loan funds.

IDF MN JSC shall execute approved direct loans whose purpose is investing in fixed assets (and inventory), by transferring funds to:

The supplier’s account or service/works provider or
Loan beneficiary account in tranches - in phases.

Transfer of funds directly to the Loan Beneficiary’s account in tranches – in phases, means that, as a general rule, the subsequent transfer of funds will not take place until the Beneficiary justifies dedicated usage of prior realized funds under the approved loan (fund per already transferred tranches).

Exceptionally, in case of refunds of the paid investments, the transfer of funds to the loan beneficiary's account may be performed as a single payment, in accordance with the present rulebook of IDF MN JSC.

8. Means of Security

As means of security, IDF MN JSC shall accept bills of exchange, mortgages over immovable property (the estimated value of the immovable property must be at least equal to the amount of the request loan), bank guarantees, local self-governments’ guarantees, guarantees of the Government of Montenegro, guarantees of prudential legal entities, stocks of receivables and other generally accepted instruments of security in the banking sector, in accordance with the Acts of IDF MN JSC and decisions passed by competent bodies of IDF MN JSC.

All costs with regard to providing instruments of security as well as of the execution of insurance-related tasks, deletion and retrieval of realized instruments shall be carried by the loan beneficiary.

9. Required Documents

Documents required for realization of the project through direct loan arrangement:

Loan Application;
Investment programme in accordance with the methodology of IDF MN JSC, or an investment programme of an acceptable content;

· Excerpt from the Central Registry of Business Entities - not older than 30 days;

Certificate on VAT registration, if the end user is subject to the VAT;
Valid Statute of the Company;

· Authorization for retrieving data from the Regulatory Loan Registry of the Central Bank of Montenegro (RKR), including founders and related parties[1];

Valid form of certified signatures of persons authorised for representation (OP) and valid specimen signature card;

· A set of annual financial statements (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, annual account balance (Trial balance), analytical breakdown of buyers and suppliers) – for the past two years, as well as the interim aforementioned reports for the current year, exception being the clients that are not subject to mandatory compilation of financial statements;

· Audit report for loan beneficiaries that are subject to statutory audits under the law;

· Tax Administration certificate on settled taxes and contributions – not older than 30 days;

· Official form for reporting on settlement of monthly taxes and social contributions for employees, verified by the Tax Directorate as evidence of the number of employees;

Proposal of the collateral;
Pro-forma invoices (photocopy or original) on procurement of equipment and inventory, preliminary invoices for construction works, preliminary agreements/agreements on purchase of real estate (IDF MN AS shall not accept offers/preliminary agreements issued by natural persons, exception being purchase of real estate, offers/preliminary agreements issued by related parties[2] or internal invoices). The documents in subject may not be dated more than three months from the date of the submission of the Loan Application.

For construction/expansion/reconstruction of business facility:

· Real estate folio for the real estate where the concerned investments is realized not older than 30 days;

· Building permit (equivalent in accordance with The Law);

· Priced bill of quantities and offers for execution of works.

For purchase of business premises:

· Real estate folio in which the real estate which is the subject of the sale is registered which is not older than 30 days;

· Preliminary agreement/agreement on purchase of real estate (certified by a notary);

All documents, as a general rule, shall be submitted in Montenegrin language.

Executive office of the IDF MN JSC retains the right to request additional documents.

10. Other Provisions

Additional rules applicable to this Loan Programme, which are not mentioned in this document, are defined in special acts passed by competent bodies of IDF MN JSC.