456 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM schemes described above in F.2.1.1., into direct grants to undertakings active in certain sectors of the Portuguese economy. It is expressly mentioned that the direct grant is earmarked for the repayment of (part of ) the underlying loan. Under the same scheme, a credit line was created in the global amount of 150 million euros for micro, small and medium companies, as well as Small Mid Cap located in the Azores, which includes undertakings from the tourism sector. This credit line is also complemented by a programme to retain jobs created by the Azores, according to the information publicly available112. This scheme has been subsequently updated in the context of the third notification, detailed hereunder in F.2.1.3. F.2.1.3. Third aid scheme applicable to the national territory In addition to the measures referred above, on 26November 2020, the Portuguese State notified amendments to the aid scheme SA.56873 (2020/N) which the Commission had approved on 4 April 2020113, from which we highlight the following: • The replacement of SPGM — Sociedade de Investimentos, S.A as the management entity of the existing scheme by Banco Português de Fomento constitutedbymerger of IFD—InstituiçãoFinanceira deDesenvolvimento, S.A., PME Investimentos — Sociedade de Investimentos, S.A., and SPGM — Sociedade de Investimentos, S.A., through the incorporation of the first two into the latter; • The introduction of a new measure in the form of “portfolio guarantees”, under which each financial intermediary would manage a portfolio of loans granted to final beneficiaries, being the maximum amount of the individual guarantees in line with the decision of 4 April 2020 but complemented with additional constraints insofar as the total amount of guarantee payments to the financial institution was limited to (i) the amount of loans disbursed under the guarantee loan portfolio (up to 90 percent); and (ii) the cap rate (up to 30 percent), which was the limit of the portfolio volume managed by each financial institution above which losses shall not be covered by the guarantee. 112 For more info, please see https://www.sdea.pt/index.php?op=116. 113 State Aid SA.59795 (2020/N) – Portugal COVID-19: Amendment of SA.56873 (2020/N) - Direct grant scheme and loan guarantee scheme
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==