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EBRD invests in Šiaulių Bankas
Support for expansion of SME-focused bank in Lithuania
Plans to expand the operations of Lithuania’s Šiaulių Bankas are set to
receive a significant boost from an equity investment by the EBRD. The Bank
will acquire 16.1 per cent of Šiaulių Bankas’ shares for €6 million. The
investment will enable the company to expand its operations to all regions of
Lithuania, while maintaining its strong focus on small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs).
The EBRD and Šiaulių Bankas have been business partners since 2000, when the
Bank provided it with a successful SME credit line. Šiaulių Bankas has
provided some €11 million in loans to more than 600 SMEs operating in light
manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, production, distribution, services
and transport. Over the years the bank, based in the manufacturing and
agricultural centre of Siauliai in Northern Lithuania, has expanded its
network to 44 branches in 26 locations.
With its investment the EBRD will help Šiaulių Bankas develop its core
activity as an SME bank and help ensure that it is competitive with Lithuanian
banks and new entrants from other EU countries, said Salvatore Candido, EBRD
Director for the Baltic States. The implementation of a new strategy and
business plan, as well as a comprehensive institution-building plan to upgrade
its operations, will transform Šiaulių Bankas into a successful mid-size bank.
“We are starting a new stage in our development with this latest support from
the EBRD,” said Algirdas Butkus, Chairman of the Board of Šiaulių Bankas. “We
will increase our presence across Lithuania, which we believe will increase
the bank’s market position in the country, and we will increase support for
SMEs, a sector which remains the underlying activity of our bank.”
Since the start of operations in 1991, the EBRD has signed 29 projects in
Lithuania, totalling €434 million and mobilising an additional €577 million
from private and public investors. A total of 67 per cent of the investments
are in the private sector.
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