Business News
EIB lends EUR 130 million to AGFA for its healthcare R&D projects in Belgium, Germany, Austria and France
Tuesday 23. November 2010 - The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 130 million to finance the research, development and innovation (RDI) projects in healthcare IT & imaging technology of the Agfa Group. These strategic projects for Agfa HealthCare aim to increase both the efficiency of healthcare and the quality of services for patients. By financing these projects, the EIB will also foster the competitiveness of European technologies and contribute to the European Union's objective of developing Europe's knowledge economy.
The projects are part of Agfa’s investment programme in its healthcare business. This includes RDI activities in the period 2010 up to and including 2013, when the majority of the new products in the areas mentioned below are expected to be launched on the market. These RDI activities will mostly take place in Agfa HealthCare’s R&D centres in Belgium, Germany, Austria and France.
The programme is aimed at the development and market launch of new products in three different areas:
· Hospital Information Systems and Clinical Information Systems (HIS/CIS, the equivalent of an enterprise IT system for hospitals that also includes the Electronic Patient Record);
· Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) for managing image-intensive clinical practices such as radiology and cardiology; and
· Digital Radiography (i.e. the digitisation of medical images).
The EIB finance consists of a 7-year loan signed under the Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF), designed by the EIB and the European Commission to finance research, development and innovation projects in the EU Member States.
Philippe Maystadt, President of the European Investment Bank, and Christian Reinaudo, CEO of Agfa-Gevaert, signed the loan contract today,
22 November 2010, during a visit to Agfa’s headquarters in Mortsel.
Christian Reinaudo underlined the importance of this loan agreement, which will contribute to the company’s internal growth strategy as well as its efforts to achieve further diversification of its financing sources. Mr Reinaudo said: “Agfa’s healthcare IT & imaging solutions allow care providers to offer improved quality and faster services, resulting in greater patient satisfaction. With global healthcare spending under pressure, governments and public authorities are increasingly turning to innovative healthcare IT & imaging solutions to curb their expenses and deliver quality care over the longer term.”
Philippe Maystadt stressed that investing in the knowledge economy is key to Europe’s competitiveness and long-term economic growth. He said: “It is crucially important for EU industries to boost their activities in R&D and increase their market share in all innovative sectors to face competition from other continents. The EIB is dedicated to supporting the development of a knowledge-based economy in Europe as a priority objective”. He added: “It is also necessary to provide backing for innovative projects with tailor-made financial products such as RSFF, which we are using for the Agfa Healthcare projects. We are pleased to support Agfa in its strategy: this company holds leading market positions thanks to its ambitious R&D programmes and strongly believes in innovation as an essential component of its successes in the future.”