Bulgaria’s EU Presidency has started with a EUR 100 million Juncker Plan loan for agri-pharma business Huvepharma to finance a boost in production levels and research and development in the area of animal health. The loan is guaranteed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the central pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe, the Juncker Plan. On 9 January, the European Investment Bank (EIB) agreed to provide a loan of EUR 40 million to Indivumed GmbH, a physician-led, global oncology company, to support cancer research, while on 22 December 2017, the EIB Group provided two guarantees on a EUR 330 million portfolio of Austrian and German loans to SMEs and Mid-Caps, originated by Hypo Vorarlberg Bank AG. On the same day, a EUR 200 million loan for Acquedotto pugliese (AQP) was signed in order to support the 2017-2022 investment programme of the largest integrated water services operator in Southern Italy. Meanwhile, the EIB and Cramo – Europe’s leading Finnish rental group for construction machinery and equipment – signed a EUR 50 million loan agreement to further modernise and expand Cramo’s fleet, and on 21 December 2017, the EIB agreed to provide financing of EUR 25 million to AMW GmbH, a German pharmaceutical company specialised in the development and manufacture of innovative drug delivery systems. On the same day, the EIB signed five agreements making it possible to provide EUR 151 million for investment in innovation in several sectors of the Spanish economy, such as pharmaceuticals, transport and the automotive industry.