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Romania’s BRD gets €200 million EBRD boost
Loan to help promote private-sector growth
The EBRD is lending Romania’s second largest bank, BRD-Société Générale Groupe
(BRD), €200 million to promote private-sector growth, including small and
medium-sized enterprises and retail lending, such as mortgages, across the
country.
Structured and arranged by the EBRD under its A/B structure, the Bank will
syndicate a large portion of the loan to commercial banks. The EBRD’s €70
million A loan will have a maturity of seven years, while the syndicated €130
million B loan will have a maturity of five years. The loan will ultimately
enable BRD to strengthen its funding base to lend further to new and existing
clients. .
Jean-Marc Peterschmitt, EBRD Director for Bank Relationships, said this loan
will have a wide impact for Romania, whether helping local enterprises become
more competitive through more investment or helping families to buy their own
homes through mortgage financing. The syndication element of the loan is also
a strong reflection of the interest international commercial banks are taking
in Romania, said Mr Peterschmitt.
Established in 1990, BRD reaches more than two million clients across all
segments of society across Romania, ranging from rural areas to large
corporate companies to SMEs. The bank is majority-owned by Société Générale,
France (58.32 per cent), and other shareholders include the EBRD (4.99 per
cent), five Romanian private investment funds (25.26 per cent) and other
shareholders, including individual investors and employees.
“Romania’s imminent accession to the EU will bring new challenges for the
Romanian banks,” said Patrick Gelin, Chairman and CEO of BRD-Groupe Société
Générale. “This is the first syndication deal organised for BRD and will be
followed by other similar transactions. This loan will consolidate our
leadership position on the Romanian private sector,” said Mr Gelin.
The EBRD is the largest investor in Romania, having committed more than €3.2
billion in over 115 projects.
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