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Strengthening leasing finance in Slovenia
€5 million loan to support expansion of BACA Leasing
The EBRD is extending a €5 million loan to Bank Austria Creditanstalt Leasing
d.o.o. (BACA Leasing), a leasing company operating in Slovenia and owned by
Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG. The financing, which comes under the leasing
window of the EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility, will be used exclusively for
leases to micro- and small-enterprises not exceeding €125,000. The loan will
be complemented with €700,000 from the European Commission for staff training
and institution building.
The Slovenian leasing market is particularly competitive with the ten largest
companies accounting for almost 90 per cent of the total new leasing volume in
previous years. BACA Leasing has been gaining a strong market presence in
equipment leasing and covers leasing in a wide area from manufacturing and
services to trading. The company also sees strong potential in the real-estate
market.
Francois Lecavalier, Head of the EBRD’s Slovenia office, said the loan will
help further facilitate the financing of Slovenian small and medium-sized
enterprises, the growth of which is key for the successful development of the
country’s economy. Widening its costumer base among this segment will allow
BACA Leasing to grow its leasing volume and strengthen its market position.
Alfred Taul and Boris Bobek, Managing Directors of BACA Leasing, said the loan
was an opportunity to further boost Bank Austria Leasing’s support for SMEs in
Slovenia, which represent the most progressive and fast growing business
segment and the backbone of the country’s economy. Bank Austria Group has a
very good track record in financing SME’s and wants to further strengthen its
involvement in this sector in Slovenia.
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 will make available funding of
€1.1 billion, of which €830 million has been committed to signed projects. The
EC has been contributing €156.75 million in grant financing and for technical
assistance since the launch of the programme in 1999. For further information
about the Phare programme, the main channel for the EU’s financial and
technical cooperation with accession countries, see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement.
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