Garanti Leasing takes a 7 mln euro loan from IFC. Part of the funds is for green energy projects

The leasing division of the financial group Garanti Romania has been provided a 7 million euro loan by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of the World Bank Group, funds which will be used to finance small and medium sized enterprises. Part of the amount, 4 million euro, is destined to energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, a premiere in Romania as it is the first such loan IFC grants to a local financial institution and also the first one provided to a Romanian leasing company since 2008, reads a press release.

This loan adds to other two financing agreements totaling 57.5 million euro concluded between the IFC and a Garanti Group institution for supporting the lending operations in the SMEs sector.

“Funding SMEs has been one of our top priorities in 2014. Our strategy in the months to come is to continue our healthy sustainable growth, expanding our market share and diversifying our portfolio of financed assets, while focusing on SMEs and the public sector”, stated Okan Yurtsever, General Manager Garanti Leasing, as per the release in question.

With a net profit of about 1.3 million euro, Garanti Leasing granted new loans worth over 36 million euro in the first half of 2014, a 68 percent increase compared to the same period last year, thus exceeding the market average whose growth rate reached 22 percent. The new funds provided by the leasing institution in the first six months of the year are distributed as follows: vehicles (64 percent), equipment (30 percent) and real estate (6 percent).