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1st EBRD syndicated loan with Romania bank helps private sector
BT to use €22.5 million loan for entrepreneurs, corporate and retail clients
The EBRD is lending Banca Transilvania, a medium-sized bank with headquarters
in Cluj, in western Romania, €22.5 million to support small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs), and corporate and retail businesses across the country.
Around €15 million of the loan will be syndicated with a number of
international commercial banks, the first for a commercial bank in Romania
organised with direct EBRD participation.
Banca Transilvania (BT) will use the EBRD funds, in turn, to make loans to
entrepreneurs and businesses across various sectors of the economy which wish
to develop or expand further.
Hildegard Gacek, EBRD Director for Romania, said this loan will help
entrepreneurs and businesses get access to longer-term finance which is
currently sparse in Romania. As demands for finance is growing among
businesses, so should the flexibility in terms of repayments, said Ms Gacek.
We hope this loan to BT will act as a demonstration effect, prompting other
banks to offer longer-term financing that will benefit clients, she added.
Established in 1994 in Cluj-Napoca, the main city in Transilvania, BT employs
more than 1,900 staff in 111 branches across town and cities which span the
country. This latest loan builds on previous, very good cooperation between
the two institutions. As well as being the largest shareholder in BT with a 15
per cent stake, the EBRD has supported BT’s lending programme in areas which
include SMEs, mortgages, and trade guarantees. The Bank has also lent the
leasing arm of BT, BT Leasing, €5 million to support this growing sector.
“The success of this first syndicated loan for BT will be seen by the
international banking community as a very clear signal of BT’s strong position
in the Romanian banking system,” said Robert Rekkers, CEO of BT. “BT is fully
dedicated to the SME sector, to its good corporate clients and, at the same
time, to its retail segment in Romania, he added.”
The EBRD is the largest investor in Romania, having committed more than €2.5
billion in over 125 projects.
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