Garanti Leasing to finance SMEs with EUR 7.5 mln loan from Black Sea Trade and Development Bank

Garanti Leasing, part of the financial-group Garanti Romania, signed a loan agreement of EUR 7.5 million with the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB). The loan was granted for a period of five years and will be used to finance small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Currently, 99 percent of Garanti Leasing’s clients are companies from several market segments, such as transportation, logistics, medical sector, agricultural, constructions and heavy industry. "We started focusing on the corporate and SME segments three years ago, responding to our clients’ financing needs. The small and medium-sized companies represent a priority for the Romanian economy and need diversified sources of financing to provide for business growth," said Okan Yurtsever, General Manager Garanti Leasing. BSTDB extended its first leasing facility in the Black Sea region in 2003 and since then has signed 16 leasing operations in the amount of EUR 103 million in Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, and Turkey. The loan to Garanti Leasing increases the amount of signed leasing operations to over EUR 110 million. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com