Garanti Leasing, part of financial group Garanti Romania, receives a EUR 4 million from International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of World Bank Group, to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, said the leasing company in a statement.

The transaction is a premiere in Romania: it is the first renewable energy loan IFC grants to a local financial institution and it is also the first time since the 2008 crisis that IFC lends a Romanian leasing company.
The EUR 4 million sum is part of a EUR 7 million loan Garanti Leasing receives from the IFC, aiming to finance small and medium sized enterprises.

This is the third loan IFC grants to a Garanti Group institution, with the purpose of financing SMEs, and the first for Garanti Leasing. In February 2012 and earlier this year, IFC granted Garanti Bank two loans, amounting to EUR 57.5 million in total.

“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.

“By working with Garanti Leasing Romania, we are supporting the flow of credit to small and medium sized companies and encouraging their investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects”, said Ana Maria Mihaescu, IFC Chief of Mission in Romania.
In the first semester, Garanti Leasing granted new financing worth EUR 36.2 million, a 68% increase compared to the same period last year.

The distribution of new assets funded by Garanti Leasing, in the first half of the year, was: vehicles (64%), equipment (30%) and real estate (6%). At the end of this year’s first semester, the company achieved a net profit of EUR 1.34 million.