In London on 15 May Center-Invest Bank signed loan agreements with the German Investment and Development Company (Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, DEG) and the Development Bank of Austria (Die Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG, OeEB). Under each of these agreements, Center-Invest will receive USD10m for financing post-crisis development projects in southern Russia. Both loans have a term of five years. The funds will be used for lending to SMEs and the agricultural sector, and also for energy efficiency lending.
These new long-term agreements provide further confirmation of the success of Center-Invest Bank’s programme «Southern Russia Versus the Global Crisis». Center-Invest is implementing the programme together with its customers; it is providing them with finance and advisory services to facilitate their sustainable business development in the post-crisis economy.
Speaking at the official signing ceremony, Chairman of Center-Invest Bank’s Board of Directors, Dr. Vasily Vysokov, said, «With the signing of these long-term loan agreements with DEG and OeEB, the programme for the post-crisis economic development of southern Russia has once again been endorsed by respected international financial institutions. It is important that Center-Invest Bank has attracted long-term funds to finance its customers’ effective investment projects. At the same time, the agreements give out a signal to other market participants who are looking for reliable partners. Center-Invest has met all its obligations under previous agreements on time and in full, and the market has taken a very favourable view of this».
DEG is a Center-Invest Bank shareholder (22.45% of voting shares). It is one of the largest financial institutions in Europe investing in business development to promote the sustainable development of regional economies and improved standards of living.
«DEG is proud to support a financial institute like Center-Invest Bank, whose transparency, corporate governance and social and environmental responsibility has made it the Number-One private bank in Southern Russia over the past few years. With this long-term loan we continue our good cooperation with Center-Invest Bank, a cooperation which we have been developed since 2005. As one of the bank's focus activities is on financing of small and medium-sized enterprises in southern Russia, the project also means an important contribution to securing jobs in this sector,» said Holger Rothenbusch, Head of DEG's Structured Finance division.
OeEB specialises in long-term finance for sustainable projects in emerging markets that can service their borrowings out of their own cash flow.