• UniCredit Bulbank signs a new guarantee instrument agreement for 100 million euro with the European Investment Fund for trade finance transactions supporting small and medium-sized enterprises

Loans under preferential terms and conditions for bank guarantees, letters of credit and pre-export working capital limits provided by UniCredit Bulbank will be available to Bulgarian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps.  For a period of three years, the bank will provide businesses with a limit of up to 100 million euro, for the purposes of trade finance transactions, which is the largest share of the three intermediary banks under Documentary Finance Facility according to the signed guarantee agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF) today.

Mrs. Lilyana Pavlova, European Investment Bank Vice-President, and Vincent Van Steensel, responsible for shared-risk instruments with EIB, Septimiu Postelnicu, General Manager of UniCredit Bulbank, and Raluca Popescu, Director of Corporate and Investment Banking and Private Banking Division of UniCredit Bulbank, signed the document.

“UniCredit is already an established pioneer in providing products and services related to European programs and financing instruments. Being part of a pan-European group we have an indisputable expertise to support the growth of our clients’ business and to be their reliable partner,” said Septimiu Postelnicu.

Raluca Popescu explained that “due to the signed agreement, UniCredit Bulbank will be able to offer preferential terms and conditions to its clients related to the requirements for collateral securing conditional limits for bank guarantees, letters of credit and working capital financing.”

The guaranteed transactions under this instrument are targeted at SMEs and mid-caps. The eligible companies can be engaged in a large number of business activities, without any significant limitations on the economic sector. The majority of loan applicants includes representatives of manufacturing enterprises, the transport sector, retail and wholesale traders.

UniCredit Bulbank is the leader in Bulgaria in terms of volumes and number of processed trade finance transactions.  The bank offers the full range of trade finance products: bank guarantees, documentary letters of credit and cash collection - import/export, confirmation of letters of credit, discounting and post-financing. The services help clients minimize the commercial risk related to the transactions, especially when working with less familiar counterparties, as well as in cases of import from and export to higher risk destinations.

The bank's teams of experts in trade finance offer consultations to the companies at each step of their trade finance transactions, while the experts from the European Funds team manage the correct use of the guarantee instruments.

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Additional media information:

Victoria Blajeva, tel +359 (0) 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Beatris Nikolova, tel +359 (0) 2 9232 528, cfbusjt/ojlpmpwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Ekaterina Ancheva, tel +359 894 518 193 , flbufsjob/bodifwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch