El Fondo de Impacto Social (FIS) aprueba sus dos primeras operaciones de inversión por 50 millones de euros

The Social Impact Fund (FIS), managed by COFIDES and attached to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, has approved its first two investments in the IB Debt Impact Spain funds, FESE, and Q-Impact Fund II, FESE, to provide financial support to projects of SMEs committed to social and environmental challenges carried out in Spain.

Integration of people with disabilities and circular economy

In particular, the FIS will contribute 30 million euros to the IB Spain Debt Impact Fund, the first such fund focused on Spain and managed by Impact Bridge Asset Management. The fund’s target size is 150 million euros. In addition, the FIS will provide 100,000 euros in technical assistance for training in the contracting and acquisition of social impact providers. IB Debt Impact Spain finances small and medium-sized enterprises focused on social issues such as rural development, decent employment, the inclusion of vulnerable groups, gender equality or access to basic services; and environmental issues such as the circular economy, sustainable agriculture or energy efficiency.

Experience in mental health and access to health services

For its part, FIS’s participation in the Q-Impact Fund II, capital growth fund of the Spanish management company Q-Impact Investment Management, will reach up to 19.5 million euros. With a final size of more than 100 million euros, Q-Impact Fund II is positioned as one of the largest impact investment funds in Spain. Like its predecessor Q-Impact I, it specializes in social and environmental impact SMEs with projects in different areas related to social inclusion (education, integration of people with disabilities, mental health, elderly people, etc.). and the ecological transition (energy efficiency, new fuels and reforestation, among others).

Both operations, proposed by COFIDES, have had the favourable opinion of the Panel of Independent Experts (PEI) and the Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee on Investments (CITI) of the FIS, according to the governance structure at three levels contemplated by the fund.

A unique instrument in Spain

Elena Rodríguez, Secretary General of Inclusion and president of the CITI, highlighted that “with this Fund we have become the fourth country worldwide in public and public-private initiatives in Impact Economy. An essential tool to respond to such decisive challenges as the inclusion of people at risk of exclusion, the training of young people in unemployment, the insertion of people with disabilities, the ecological transition or sustainable growth”, he added.

For her part, Angela Pérez, president and CEO of COFIDES, pointed out that “these first operations of the FIS culminate a few months of intense work for the implementation of this fund, a unique instrument in Spain and with few precedents at international level, which is called to transform and enhance the impact investment and the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship in our country”.

Government-approved fund, now operational

FIS is a fund created by the Government through the addendum of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) and has resources from the NextGenerationEU instrument. It is a public financial instrument that aims to strengthen our impact ecosystem, through the support of investment projects carried out by companies and other entities in Spain that generate a positive and measurable social and/or environmental impact.

Endowed with 400 million euros, it offers financial support to projects that are financially sustainable and that contribute to responding to neglected social and environmental challenges, also promoting the mobilization of additional private resources.

The FIS has various forms of financial support, including the subscription of shares in impact investment funds, direct investment in entities through co-investment agreements, and direct refundable financing through loans, equity loans or other financial instruments.

On the other hand, it has a technical assistance facility to strengthen the capacities of the beneficiary entities in aspects relevant to the development of the projects such as the methodologies of measurement and impact assessment.

The fund is fully operational. Project proposals for FIS funding can be referred to fis@cofides.es.