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1st syndicated loan to FYR Macedonia in five years
EBRD lends Tutunska Banka €20 million to meet growing demand from business
The EBRD is lending FYR Macedonia’s Tutunska Banka, majority owned by
Slovenia’s largest bank, Nova Ljubljanska Banka, €20 million to help meet
entrepreneurs’ and private businesses’ growing demands for finance. The Bank
will syndicate €13 million to a number of international banks, the first
syndication in the country since 1998.
Kurt Geiger, Business Group Director for Financial Institutions at the EBRD,
said this is a landmark transaction for FYR Macedonia since it is the first
international syndication of a Macedonian Bank, attracting the participation
of 10 international banks. The funds will be used to provide finance to the
growing private sector in FYR Macedonia, which is crucial for economic growth,
Mr Geiger said.
Established in 1985, Tutunska Bank is one of the largest banks in FYR
Macedonia, employing more than 280 staff in 21 branches across the country. A
majority stake in the bank was acquired by Nova Ljubljanska Banka in 2000 as
part of its strategy to expand in south-eastern Europe.
Gjorgji Jancevski, First General Manager of Tutunska banka, said one of the
bank's strategies has been to appear in the international financial markets,
and by working with the EBRD and NLB, we have achieved this. This project is
not only a success for Tutunska Banka, but also for the country both in
respect of access to additional financial sources and the positive signal of
the EBRD and other western European banks towards local banks and the economy,
said Mr Jancevski.
This latest EBRD loan builds on previous cooperation between the two
institutions, when in 2000 TB received €3 million in backing from the Bank’s
Trade Facilitation Programme, which supports international trade transactions
of its customers. In 2002 the EBRD acquired a 5 per cent stake in NLB to
support its privatisation, which is 34 per cent owned by Belgium’s KBC.
The EBRD is the largest investor in FYR Macedonia, having committed more than
€372 million in 23 projects across the country in sectors ranging from banking
to power and agribusiness to transport.
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