Neuquén: a public guarantee fund so supplier SMEs can access credit

Ley 3286 authorizes the Executive to constitute FOGANEU S.A.P.E.M., a public guarantee fund that grants guarantees for a fee to MSMEs (Ley nacional 24.467) located or to be located in Neuquén, to improve their access to financing under BCRA rules. Parameters set by the law itself:(1) the guarantees can secure up to 100% of the amount requested from financial institutions, although the same article clarifies that "in no case shall the guarantee granted secure payment of banking fees or commissions on the loan granted" (art. 8);(2) no guarantee may concentrate on a single beneficiary more than 5% of the Risk Fund (art. 11);(3) guarantees to medium-sized companies may not exceed 20% of the total guaranteed by the Fund (art. 2 subs. a);(4) an initial contribution by the Executive to the company of $50,000,000, as share capital (art. 13, subscribed 100% upon constitution, paid in 50% at the act and 50% in 2021, expandable by budget laws);(5) provincial tax and stamp exemptions (art. 12);(6) exclusion of applicants with tax/social-security debt or final sanctions in Repsal (art. 9);(7) a three-member board (Economy and Infrastructure, Production and Industry and Centro PyME-ADENEU, art. 16) and a Guarantee-Granting Committee by competition (art. 17); and(8) the guarantee is neither free nor unconditional — the company "must require counter-guarantees from the beneficiary MSMEs, in support of the guarantee contracts entered into with them", with their modalities, expenses and charges set by the by-laws and regulations (art. 10). Nor may the beneficiaries be entities that themselves grant guarantees or develop financing tools, or persons related to FOGANEU itself (art. 11). Operating status reported by the provincial government in May 2026: a risk fund of ~$1,851 million, guarantees granted of ~$3,376 million, live risk ~$3,139 million, 81 MSMEs assisted (72 with a first guarantee), a maximum project amount of ~$90 million and an average financing ticket of ~$40 million; coordination with Banco Provincia del Neuquén, CFI, IADEP and the Más Pymes Más Futuro program prob. verif · May 6, 2021 ↗

Passed on 05/06/2021 verif; promulgated on 05/24/2021 and published in the Official Gazette on 06/04/2021 prob. FOGANEU is operational: in May 2026 the province reported that it has already backed 81 MSMEs prob. prob · May 6, 2021 ↗

MSMEs located or to be located in Neuquén that carry out in the province the activity they finance and that need credit without sufficient collateral of their own (arts. 2 and 8). Excluded are those with tax or social-security debts without a payment plan, final labor sanctions, entities that themselves grant guarantees and persons related to the fund (arts. 9 and 11). Indirectly it reaches the banks that lend against the guarantee; the law instructs the fund to seek from the Central Bank that its guarantees be recognized as top-rated (art. 7) verif. Among those MSMEs are the suppliers and service companies of Vaca Muerta and the industrial, commercial and services SMEs thesis. verif · May 6, 2021 ↗