São Paulo Agency launches pilot operation with working capital
Valor Econômico
The Agency of Promotion of the State of São Paulo, created in February and implemented in March, is already carrying out its pilot operation. It is a credit line for working capital for a company in the sector of plastics, which produces packaging for supermarkets. "We are testing the control systems. If everything works out fine, we will open the doors to the other operations", affirmed the president of the agency, Milton Luis de Melo Santos.
The São Paulo Agency was born with one of the greatest assets of the sector, of R$ 1 billion (US$ 518.1 million), which will be paid up as the businesses increase. At first, R$ 200 million (US$ 103.6 million) is available. The goal, said Melo Santos, are the micro, small and medium enterprises of the sectors of capital goods, commerce, services and agribusiness of the State of São Paulo. The goal of the agency is to initially release R$ 100 million (US$ 51.8 million) in credit a year. The agency decided to start with working capital operations, in two modalities. One of them is the cashing of trade acceptance bills or another traditional receivable. The other modality is the working capital paid in 12 monthly installments, with a grace period of one month, at the cost of 1% a month. "It is the cheapest alternative of credit", said Melo Santos.
The agency of promotion does not have a network to offer its resources and it is making use of trade associations, like the Fiesp (Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo), the Faesp (São Paulo State Agriculture Federation), the Fecom (Federation of Commerce of the State of São Paulo), the Abimaq (Brazilian Machinery Manufacturers Association), the São Paulo Trade Association and as well as the Sebrae (Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises), to disclose its credit lines. It has also made presentations to local productive arrangements of the sectors of plastics and footwear.
Melo Santos was enthusiastic with the new rules of the agencies of promotion. According to him, they open new fronts of operation. By authorizing the credit operations, it allows the agencies to make advances against exchange and advances against draft presentation (ACC and ACE, in Portuguese), for instance. It will now also be possible to pass on BNDES leasing lines and resources of the FAT (Workers Support Fund) and FGTS (Employment Security Fund). The São Paulo agency is already getting itself accredited with the BNDES. According to him, the authorized interest of the agencies will be important to give support to incubators with the purpose of strengthening them.