BSTDB Increases Support for Leasing Operations in Russia

Press Release | 13-Jul-2011

BSTDB provided a USD 20 million medium-term SME Leasing Facility to Europlan, a leading leasing finance company in Russia. The Facility will be used to finance leasing of capital goods, mainly equipment, vehicles, and machinery, to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Russia.

The operation has a substantial development impact by helping improve access of Russian SMEs to much-needed leasing finance.

“We are glad to continue our successful cooperation with Europlan in this important market segment.  As a development bank, BSTDB gives priority to supporting the development of the SME sector. Leasing financing represents one of the most effective tools to support SMEs, complementing our special SME credit lines provided to Russian banks” said Andrey Kondakov, BSTDB President signing the loan agreement in Moscow.

Europlan has a successful credit history with BSTDB. Since 2003, BSTDB has provided USD 54 million in total to the Company for SME leasing financing.

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Europlan is a leading small-ticket leasing company in Russia financing lease of equipment, vehicles and commercial real estate. The shareholders of Europlan are international private equity funds - Baring Vostok Capital Partners and Capital International. Since commencement of its operations in 1999, Europlan has carried out over 70000 projects in 70 regions, providing services to over 21000 companies at accessible terms. With its headquarters in Moscow, the Company has 65 offices and employs over 1200 people.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters is in Thessaloniki, Greece. BSTDB supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. The authorized capital of the Bank is SDR 3 billion (appx. EUR 3,3 billion). BSTDB is rated long-term A by Standard and Poor’s and A3 by Moody’s.

Press Contact

Haroula Christodoulou

Tel: +30 2310 290533

Email: cchristodoulou@bstdb.org