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Leasing provides boost to Slovak small enterprises
€10 million loan to VB Leasing SK under EU/EBRD SME Facility
Small and micro enterprises in the Slovak Republic will benefit from a €10 million loan from the EBRD to VB Leasing SK, s.r.o., which will be used for lease financing of industrial equipment and transport vehicles. Leases are an increasingly important way to facilitate access to finance for entrepreneurs and help build a strong “Mittelstand,” as the family-owned businesses that make up a successful economy´s backbone are known.
In addition to the EBRD loan, up to almost €1.65 million is being provided by the European Union for financial incentives. The amounts are extended under the EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility, a programme to support the development and growth of entrepreneurs. The Bank has committed €900 million via some 27,000 loans and leases, while the EC has committed €130 million in grant financing and technical assistance since the facility’s launch in 1999.
For the EBRD, the signing with VB Leasing SK marks the third leasing project under the facility in the Slovak Republic, following loans of €15 million and €5 million, respectively, to CAC Leasing in 2002 and Tatra Leasing in 2003. This demonstrates the success of the programme, which has been tailor-made for the market and well received from the very start, said Jonathan Woollett, Director for Non-Bank Financial Institutions at the EBRD.
Heinz Reindl, Managing Director of VB Leasing SK added that the priority of the company will be effectively use the proceeds from the facility and continuously provide financing to Slovak SME companies.
VB Leasing SK, a subsidiary of VB-Leasing International Holding (76 per cent) and Ludova banka (24 per cent), provides a wide range of lease services to Slovak enterprises and individuals. With headquarters in Bratislava and 11 branches elsewhere in the country, VB Leasing SK has a broad geographic presence.
Under the EBRD loan, individual leases will be extended up to a maximum of €125,000 and an aggregate of €250,000 to any one customer.
The SME Facility was launched in 1999 under the European Commission’s Phare Programme, the main channel for the EU's financial and technical cooperation with the candidate countries of central and eastern Europe. The budget earmarked for the Programme as a whole is about €1.5 billion a year. (For further information see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/)
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