EIB provides €10 million to finance RDI strategy of Fagor Arrasate

With EIB support, Fagor Arrasate will strengthen its competitiveness by making strategic investments between 2021 and 2024.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide €10 million to finance the research, development and innovation (RDI) strategy of Fagor Arrasate, a Mondragón Group cooperative based in the Basque Country, Spain. Fagor Arrasate is dedicated to the design and manufacture of machinery for the automotive industries, the steel and aluminium value chain, and appliances, for which it has 900 employees. The project is backed by a guarantee from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe.

With EIB support, Fagor Arrasate will strengthen its competitiveness by making strategic investments between 2021 and 2024. The company’s RDI plan will focus on driving the development of advanced machinery and digital services to meet the future challenges of the strategic sectors of European manufacturing. The agreement will contribute to improving technologies for processing new lightweight materials mainly for the automotive sector, in addition to improvements to existing production facilities.

The project is expected to have a positive environmental impact as a major part of the innovation centres on the development of machinery that will enable car manufacturers to make lighter, more environmentally friendly vehicles, as well as to produce components for electric vehicles. The EIB is firmly committed to continuing to support innovation in the automotive sector in Spain, having financed and worked with several companies in the sector during the pandemic.

This will be the first operation with Fagor Arrasate, although the EIB has already worked with several Mondragón Group cooperatives.

EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix said: “We are very proud to finance Fagor Arrasate’s RDI strategy, promoting the digitalisation and advanced production techniques of this Spanish company through greater sustainability that will undoubtedly enable it to strengthen its competitiveness. This operation demonstrates the EIB’s strong commitment to an economic recovery based on innovation and environmental protection, as well as to supporting the automotive industry, which is key to the Spanish economy and job creation — the EIB’s priority objectives in Spain.”

European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, said: “Thanks to a guarantee from the Investment Plan for Europe and the EIB, the Spanish company Fagor Arrasate will invest into new manufacturing technologies and developing machinery to build electric vehicles. This is good news for the competitiveness and for the green transition of the Spanish automotive sector.”

President of the Fagor Arrasate Governing Board Iñaki Martínez stressed that this EU bank's decision “shows the EIB’s firm support for Fagor Arrasate’s strategy, providing the funds needed to undertake future projects that will enable us to improve our competitiveness and be a leading benchmark for our customers.”

In addition, the project aims to promote technological leadership and the competitiveness of the European industry and supports economic growth and employment in Europe, both directly and indirectly.