Ascend Tech participates in the EuroDefense France working group on the financing of BITD
European sovereignty cannot be decreed, it is financed. While many companies in the Defense Industrial and Technological Base are facing major economic tensions, an issue is becoming central: how to sustainably ensure the robustness of our value chain, from SMEs to large groups, in an unstable geopolitical context. Ascend Tech participated in the last EuroDefense France working group devoted to the financing and insurance of BITD. An initiative that finally brings together the worlds of Defence, finance and territories, with a clear objective: to build concrete solutions to strengthen the competitiveness and access to finance of the industrial players who carry our sovereignty.
Temps de lecture estimé : X min
A strategic working group to strengthen financing for BITD
Faced with the growing difficulties encountered by many companies in the Defense Industrial and Technological Base (BITD), in a tense economic context, Eurodéfense-France launched in September a working group dedicated to defence financing and insurance.
This association brings together former senior civil and military officials, senior executives and researchers committed to a more autonomous and more strategic European defence. At a time when defense sovereignty is also closely linked to energy sovereignty, it is urgent to accelerate the various accesses to financing in this sector in order to preserve our assets and especially strengthen the robustness of our French and European value chain.
The objective of this group: to develop innovative proposals for French and European authorities for strengthen competitiveness, valorization and facilitate access to finance defense companies in France and Europe. To do so, it brings together experts from finance, industry and public institutions, as well as economic researchers.
Who are the BITD companies?
The BITD includes around 4,500 companies, including:
- 800 identified as strategic or critical
- 220,000 jobs
The “robot portrait” of a BITD company is an SME with around 50 employees, generating 6 to 8 million in turnover, of which less than 20% for the defense sector.
Current funding for the sector comes from a variety of public and private sources, including:,
- €37 billion from banks
- €20 billion in direct and indirect investments by insurers
- €40 billion from the Caisse des Dépôts et des Consignations
- and €1 billion from Bpifrance.
Bringing the voice of BITD SMEs and bringing finance, defense and territories closer together
I intervened last November 26 to reiterate the need to hear the Feedback from SMEs that make up 80% of the 4,500 companies referenced by the BITD. The working group wishes in fact to engage in a direct dialogue with BITD companies in the region, in parallel with the work carried out with each of the professional unions (GIFAS, GICAT, GICAN, EVOLEN in particular) in order to better understand their real constraints and to facilitate, in the long term, their access to financing and insurance mechanisms.
This initiative contributes to bringing together the worlds of defense, finance and territories and to lay the foundations for concrete solutions in the service of European sovereignty.
Indeed, BITD SMEs need to strengthen their balance sheets that are often poorly capitalized, with lower margins and higher debt ratios than comparable companies, in order to be able to invest and absorb long order cycles.
They also need to finance machines, lines, relocations, relocations, automation, ammunitions/missiles/components capacities, often with tickets worth several million euros per site. Very tight in terms of working capital (working capital requirements), they also need to finance extended operating cycles (deadlines between orders, production, qualifications, payments), in particular for subcontractors dependent on a few major contractors.
Finally, and without the list being exhaustive, they must also find quick, flexible solutions, backed by major contractors, to absorb order peaks, delays and extended cycles (factoring, pre-financing invoices, Defacto-type platforms). Not to mention their financing needs allowing cybersecurity upgrades, ITAR/EAR compliance, export control, RC/product insurance and coverage related to export contracts (buyer credits, guarantees)