During the company visit, I will try to light up the stars in your eyes. Laurent Bodin, general manager of Cimulec, knows how to welcome guests. But before presenting his group that manufactures printed circuits for the Defense industry (70%), civil aviation, and space, there is a major document to sign. At the end of March, in the company’s premises in Ennery, Banque Populaire Alsace Lorraine Champagne (BPALC) granted a loan of one million euros to the Moselle SME.
These funds are part of the EIB (European Investment Bank) program, which materializes in a 300 million euros envelope granted to the BPCE group to facilitate access to financing for SMEs in the Defense sector. Cimulec is the first company in France to benefit from this. Explanations.
The EIB is similar to BpiFrance, but at the European level. Its shareholders are the European Union member states, and its mission is to support investments in companies that contribute to achieving major European objectives. In 2025, the entity signed 100 billion euros in financing (of which 60 billion enabled initiatives related to environmental transition to emerge).
“Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Europe has requested funding for projects to support the Defense markets,” said Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the EIB.
“Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Europe has requested funding for projects to support the Defense markets,” said Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the EIB responsible for France. That is why last year, 4.5 billion euros were unlocked to help companies in this sector increase their production, build new hangars, and develop their Research and Development (R&D).
In order to provide funding and identify the right companies, the EIB relies on banking partners in each EU country. This is where the BPCE group comes into play, as the support for the EIB in France. “We are the actor benefiting from local connections. We know the companies that need this type of financing. We are here to support the movement related to the geopolitical context,” explains Dominique Garnier, general manager of BPALC, the entity taking the financial risk.
In the Grand Est region, 250 companies are part of the Defense industrial and technological base (BITD). The funds mobilized by the EIB help support them with preferential rates. Both large groups – as evidenced by the loan of 400 million euros recently granted to Thales – and SMEs, like Cimulec. The company plans to use its loan to invest in new equipment, control machines, and more.
Follow the guide: With three locations in Ennery (100 employees), Toulouse (60 employees), and Les Ulis (60 employees), Cimulec achieves a turnover of 28 million euros. “Due to the wars, unfortunately, our business is very rich,” says Laurent Bodin before starting the tour of the Moselle plant. Passionate, he moves through the plant’s corridors explaining the processes for making printed circuits.
In total, the director details 80 operations before the production release. “We have expertise in plastic processing, machining, electroplating, and linocut,” he enumerates. Every corner of the production unit hides precise know-how and cutting-edge machines despite their heavy and robust appearance.
Cimulec’s clients include major French Defense giants: Safran, Dassault Systèmes, Thales, and also companies of this scale in other European countries (the SME exports between 25% and 30% of its production). Cimulec’s printed circuits can be found, for example, in the Rafale jets of the French Air Force. With the increasing military programs, the industrial flagship of Moselle, which faced a complex post-COVID period with soaring material prices, is now returning to growth.
