Philips Oral Healthcare parent firm borrows 200m euros

Philips Oral Healthcare’s parent company Philips has been granted a loan of 200 million euros (181 million pounds) by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The loan will span for a total of ten years, has been agreed upon under the terms of the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility and will be utilised to fund the firm’s research and development efforts across its healthcare projects.

Philips’ research and development plans will include solutions such as clinical decision support systems, home healthcare and image-guided intervention and therapy.

It will collaborate with small to medium-sized enterprises as part of the plans, as well as several European universities and research institutes.

“This strategic finance agreement demonstrates the EIB’s willingness to put its weight behind such important matters like open innovation while recognising Philips’ leading role to drive this development,” commented Rick Harwig, chief technology officer of Philips.

In October, Philips published its financial results for the third quarter of 2009, revealing that comparable sales were down by 11 per cent during the timeframe.