BSTDB Expands Support for Leasing Operations in Bulgaria
Press Release | 20-Jun-2014
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is providing EUR 3 million to BM Leasing Company to be used by small- and medium-sized enterprises for leasing of manufacturing equipment, commercial vehicles and real estate facilities. The maturity of the facility is five years. The operation will help Bulgarian enterprises to diversify their funding sources and will also strengthen Bulgaria’s non-banking financial sector.
”BSTDB is pleased to continue supporting BM Leasing, which plays a growing role in providing medium-term leasing facilities to SMEs.” said Andrey Kondakov after the signing.
“BM Leasing has retained its strategic focus on the SME sector since the inception of its business in 2003. In the last few years, the impact of macroeconomic and financial difficulties has been felt most acutely by local SMEs that lack significant resource base to cushion such impacts. The partnership with BSTDB now spans seven years and three credit facilities. The cooperation has been instrumental in bringing much needed SME financing to the region at a time of financial stagnation and general lack of access to credit. BM Leasing will leverage the opportunities presented by the 2014 credit facility by continuing to extend funding to a larger number of SME customers, even for smaller-size deals. This will not only achieve prudent diversification, but also maximize the impact of the funding across our new and existing customer base”, stated Ms. Kalina Slavova, CEO of BM Leasing.
Cumulatively, under its SME Support program, BSTDB has allocated EUR 90 million in Bulgaria since 2000, including EUR 11 million for leasing.
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BM Leasing AD is a fully licensed non-banking financial institution offering services to clients from all over Bulgaria. Its major shareholder is Emerging Europe Leasing & Finance B.V., owned by the Balkan Accession Fund (BAF). BM Leasing AD offers leasing to individuals and legal entities for equipment, transport vehicles and real estate under financial lease agreements of up to EUR 500,000. The company also offers sale and leaseback, which allow the clients to free working capital for their business, as well as sub-lease for suppliers. BM Leasing AD. The company operates through 3 offices opened in the largest cities of Bulgaria - Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna with a staff of 13 as of Dec 31, 2013 BSTDB is one of the BAF shareholders, together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG), and private investors.
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 are 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 EUR 3.45 billion). BSTDB is rated long-term “A-” by Standard and Poor’s and “A2” by Moody’s. For information on BSTDB, visit www.bstdb.org.
Press contact:
Haroula Christodoulou
Phone: +30 2310 290533
E-mail: cchristodoulou@bstdb.org