Second Round Financing from BSTDB
Press Release | 22-Jul-2005
Black Sea Trade & Development Bank and the Russian leasing company Europlan have signed a 3–year loan agreement for USD 11 million. Europlan will use these funds to finance lease deals with its core clients – Russian small and mid-sized businesses. The borrower already has a successful credit history with BSTDB’s first SME leasing facility of USD 5 million signed in 2003, which was fully disbursed and is currently under repayment.
“This operation strengthens the BSTDB efforts to further support the development of leasing in Russia, which would provide medium-term funding for capital expenditures of SMEs in line with our country strategy for Russia. Besides, it illustrates the strategic objective to develop our SME financing program not only through local commercial banks, but non-bank financial institutions as well“ said Mr. Mikhail Jernov, BSTDB Vice President Banking.
«Europlan has built strong business relations with the Black Sea Trade & Development Bank, and we hope to expand further our cooperation. In 2006 we plan to sign more than 6 000 lease deals with SME’s and double total number of active leases managing portfolio of more than 10000 leases. The financing from BSTDB will help us to accomplish such a challenging plan, - said Nikolay Zinoviev, President and CEO of Europlan. “Within 3 years our company has raised USD 100 million in long term financing from the leading international financial institutions. I want to emphasize that we receive second round financing from BSTDB that proves our financial stability and excellent credit history”.
Europlan is an independent Russian leasing company and an investee company of Baring Vostok Capital Partners and Capital international. Since its inception in 1999, Europlan has been providing corporate fleet, equipment and commercial real estate leases to small and medium enterprises across Russia through a nationwide network covering 40 regions. According to the «Russian leasing market 2004» survey Europlan is ranked as leading company in passenger car leasing and leading company in terms of the total number of active lease contracts. The total number of Europlan’s active leases is around 6 000. Among Europlan’s creditors are such international financial institutions as EBRD, IFC, U.S. Ex-Im Bank, BSTDB, DEG, OPIC, and others.
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. With an authorized capital of SDR 1 billion (approx. USD 1,4 billion), the Bank supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing financing for investment projects and trade transactions in public and private sectors in its member countries. Since the commencement of operations in 1999, BSTDB has approved financing in excess of USD 660 million for about 60 projects and trade transactions in the Black Sea region.