OREANDA-NEWS. December 07, 2015. The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing Raiffeisen-Leasing Polska S.A. (RLPL) with PLN 234 million by purchasing asset-backed securities (ABS) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) is supporting the transaction in the form of a PLN 383 million mezzanine guarantee. This is the first public ABS transaction in which the EIB Group, consisting of the EIB and the EIF, has participated in Poland. It will contribute to further opening up the securitisation market for financing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

This operation is employing an innovative top-up of an existing special purpose entity, ROOF Poland Leasing 2014 DAC (ROOF), in which the transaction costs and structuring time were considerably reduced. The securitisation transactions complement the EIB’s direct lending to the Polish financial sector and enable higher financing volumes and the transfer of a bigger financial advantage to SMEs and mid-caps (firms with up to 3 000 employees) than would be possible with direct loans only. The joint EIB and EIF intervention enabled the EIB Group to participate in both the senior and mezzanine tranches of the transaction, further increasing the financing volumes directed to SMEs and mid-caps. Moreover, the EIF’s involvement acted as the catalyst for the participation of private investors in the transaction.

The EIB participated in the first round of the ROOF securitisation in 2014. Thanks to the EIB Group’s continued involvement in the transaction, Raiffeisen-Leasing Polska S.A. has been able to expand its lease receivables securitisation programme with this top-up. The limit of the RLPL programme has now been raised from PLN 950 million to almost PLN 1.5 billion and the portfolio currently includes vehicles as well as machinery and equipment. The transaction was arranged by Raiffeisen Bank International AG and conducted via ROOF, which financed the acquisition of the receivables with the issuance of securities worth PLN 1.25 billion (senior tranche of PLN 870 million and mezzanine tranche of PLN 383.5 million). The notes are rated by Scope Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

RLPL is a long-standing partner of the EIB and EIF in fostering development of the SME sector in Poland. The total value of long-term financing made available to RLPL by the EIB Group over the past few years has reached almost PLN 2.5 billion, enabling it to finance new lease contracts with small and mid-size businesses amounting to more than PLN 5 billion in total. The participation of the EIB and the EIF in this and earlier transactions has served to reduce RLPL’s financing costs. Thanks to the EIB Group’s investment, RLPL has been able to offer small and mid-size businesses more favourable financing conditions than otherwise possible.