Investment part of €432.4 million facility to banks in eight eastern European countries

The EBRD’s Board of Directors has approved a €50 million credit to UniCredit Bulbank in Bulgaria in order to support the Bulgarian economy in response to the global economic crisis.

The loan is part of the EBRD’s response to the global financial crisis, providing a flow of finance to the real economy in Bulgaria at a time of scarce alternative commercial funding.

Subject to the conclusion of legal documentation, the proceeds of this five-year credit would be used to provide medium and long-term financing to private SME companies, with a maximum of 249 employees and a maximum turnover of €50 million.

“This project is an important step in facilitating the access of Bulgarian SMEs to long-term funding, especially given increased demand and limited availability of financing from Bulgarian banks during the crisis,” said James Hyslop, the EBRD’s Director for Bulgaria.

"I am very pleased to see that our long-term partnership with the EBRD has been strengthened even further. Thanks to this cooperation we can enhance the support of our local economy, which currently experiences challenging times due to the international crisis, in a sustainable way”, said Levon Hampartzoumian, CEO of UniCredit Bulbank.

The credit is part of a joint initiative with the UniCredit group to continue investing in eastern Europe and so keep funding open to the real economy.

The EBRD is making investments worth a total of €432.4 million in UniCredit subsidiaries across eight eastern European countries, as part of a joint effort to tackle the impact of the global economic crisis on the region. The aim is to provide medium and long-term debt and equtiy financing through UniCredit subsidiaries in support of SMEs, lease finance and energy efficiency projects.

UniCredit is the largest banking group in the central and eastern European region, with over 4,000 branches in 19 countries. The group has invested around €10 billion of equity in central and eastern Europe and has around €85 billion of total customers loans in the region. Beside its own funding programs to its subsidiaries, it cooperates with international institutions including the EBRD in order to ensure continuing support to the local economies during these challenging times.

The EBRD investment is part of the joint pledge by the EBRD, the World Bank Group and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to provide over €24 billion in support of the banking sectors in the region and to fund lending to businesses hit by the global crisis.

The International Financial Institutions (IFIs) are working with key banking groups active in eastern Europe to deliver a rapid response to the financing requirements of individual subsidiaries and complementing the funding plans of the parents. This project with UniCredit is expected to be followed by similar investments in the eastern subsidiaries of other banking groups.

In response to the crisis, the EBRD has increased its planned investments in the financial sector by 50 percent to €3 billion this year. It has also announced a doubling of its funding to support important cross border commerce via its Trade Facilitation Programme.

In the first quarter of this year, the EBRD had made investments of €1.1 billion, a rise of 64 percent from the same period in 2008. Total investments of €7 billion are expected this year, up over 30 percent from 2008.

The individual components of the €432.4 million investment facility are the following:

• UniCredit (UC) Bank Hungary SME lending €50 million

• UniCredit Bulbank (Bulgaria) SME lending €50 million

• Zagrebacka Banka (Croatia) SME lending €50 million

• UC Bank Serbia SME lending €30 million

• UC Bank Bosnia SME lending €30 million

• UC Leasing Serbia Leasing €15 million

• UC Leasing Bosnia Leasing €15 million

• UC Leasing Ukraine Leasing $25 million

• ATF (Kazakhstan) SME lending $70 million

• ATF (Kazakhstan) Energy Efficiency $30 million

• Ukrsotsbank (Ukraine) Tier 2 capital $100 million

• ATFBank-Kyrgyzstan SME lending $20 million

About EBRD:

The EBRD, owned by 61 countries and two intergovernmental institutions, is supporting the development of market economies and democracies in countries from central Europe to central Asia. For further information, visit: www.ebrd.com

About UniCredit:

UniCredit is a major international financial institution with strong roots in 22 European countries as well as representative offices in 27 other markets, with over 10,200 branches, approximately 174,000 employees at 31 December 2008. In the CEE region UniCredit operates the largest international banking network with over 4,000 branches and outlets in 19 countries. For further information, visit:  www.unicreditgroup.eu