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Poland's BZ WBK Leasing receives EBRD/EC finance
The EBRD is extending a €15 million loan to BZ WBK Leasing S.A., one of
Poland’s largest leasing groups, to support the country’s small and
medium-sized enterprises. The company is a subsidiary of Bank Zachodni WBK
S.A., one of the leading banks in Poland. The project is co-financed by the
European Commission. This is the fourth leasing project in Poland under the
EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility.
Irene Grzybowski, EBRD Director for Poland, underlined that the loan will help
SMEs in Poland successfully compete in an increasingly open and challenging
market. Projects like this, she said, will help small businesses in Poland
obtain the reliable and medium-term funding they need. She added that the Bank
is pleased to be working with BZ WBK Leasing and Bank Zachodni WBK to help
develop these engines of growth in Poland.
Tomasz Jąder, President of BZ WBK Leasing, said: “We are focused on the
leasing of transport vehicles to SMEs, and our exposure to this sector in 2003
exceeded 80 per cent of our total portfolio. The proceeds under the facility
will help streamline the procedures, thus expanding our market presence and
improving SME’s access to leasing services. BZ WBK Leasing has one of the most
diversified offers in the market for a broad range of transport vehicles such
as vans, trucks and coaches.”
The loan is provided through the EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility, a programme of
the European Commission alongside the EBRD to promote SME growth and
development across the countries expected to join the EU in May 2004. The Bank
has committed €700 million, of which €540 million has been disbursed by local
banks and leasing companies via more than 20,000 loans and leases. The EC has
committed €130 million in grant financing and for technical assistance since
the Facility’s launch in 1999 under the Phare programme, the main channel for
the EU’s financial and technical co-operation with accession countries.
Phare’s overall budget is about €1.5 billion a year. (For further information
see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/.)
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