OREANDA-NEWS.   The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is providing EUR 3 million to BM Leasing Company to be used by small- and medium-sized enterprises for leasing of manufacturing equipment, commercial vehicles and real estate facilities. The maturity of the facility is five years.  The operation will help Bulgarian enterprises to diversify their funding sources and will also strengthen Bulgaria’s non-banking financial sector.
 
”BSTDB is pleased to continue supporting BM Leasing, which plays a growing role in providing medium-term leasing facilities to SMEs.” said Andrey Kondakov after the signing.
 
“BM Leasing has retained its strategic focus on the SME sector since the inception of its business in 2003. In the last few years, the impact of macroeconomic and financial difficulties has been felt most acutely by local SMEs that lack significant resource base to cushion such impacts. The partnership with BSTDB now spans seven years and three credit facilities. The cooperation has been instrumental in bringing much needed SME financing to the region at a time of financial stagnation and general lack of access to credit. BM Leasing will leverage the opportunities presented by the 2014 credit facility by continuing to extend funding to a larger number of SME customers, even for smaller-size deals. This will not only achieve prudent diversification, but also maximize the impact of the funding across our new and existing customer base”, stated Ms. Kalina Slavova, CEO of BM Leasing.
 
Cumulatively, under its SME Support program, BSTDB has allocated EUR 90 million in Bulgaria since 2000, including EUR 11 million for leasing.