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Fresh support for Hungarian SMEs
EBRD provides €10 million loan to HVB Leasing
Small and medium-sized enterprises are to benefit from the first €10 million
loan the EBRD is providing to HVB Leasing Hungary under the leasing window of
the EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility. Individual leases will be extended up to a
maximum of €125,000 and an aggregate of €250,000 to any one customer. The loan
will be complemented with €1.25 million financial incentives from the EU for
staff training and other costs.
The Hungarian leasing market has been growing steadily over the past five
years, and now exceeds €4 billion in terms of new assets leased. HVB Leasing
Hungary is focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises, which in general
still lack access to affordable finance. The leases will help Hungarian
entrepreneurs to increase their competitiveness with new equipment.
Zsuzsanna Hargitai, Head of the EBRD’s Budapest Resident Office, said that the
EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility has been particularly successful in Hungary in
expanding leasing to SMEs with the HVB Leasing Hungary project representing
the fifth such transaction. Thus the Facility is having a major impact on
improving conditions for equipment and vehicle leasing for small companies.
Anikó Magasházi, Managing Director of HVB Leasing Hungary, said that the loan
is expected to contribute to the further expansion of leasing business, by
supporting investments by SME clients in the fields of production machines, IT
systems, logistic equipment, construction machines as well as transport
vehicles.
The EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility, a joint programme of the European Commission
and the EBRD, supports the development and growth of entrepreneurs by
facilitating their access to finance. The Bank has committed €700 million, of
which €495 million has been disbursed by local banks and leasing companies via
19,000 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
cooperation 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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