EFSE Provides 6.0 Mln Euro Loan to Serbia's Opportunity Bank

EFSE lends the money to help Opportunity Bank expand its lending activities to micro and small businesses, EFSE said in a statement but did not elaborate.

The EFSE extended a 5.0 million euro loan to Opportunity Bank last year.

Since it started operations in 2002, Opportunity Bank has lent more than 65 million euro to local micro and small companies.

Opportunity Bank ranked 21st in terms of assets as of the end of June with total assets of 2.9 billion dinars ($43.5 million/34 million euro).

EFSE (www.esfe.lu) was launched in December 2005 as successor to four European funds operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the then U.N.-run Serbian province of Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. It is a partnership of the European Union, the German, Swiss and Austrian governments; international financial institutions like the International Finance Corporation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, German development bank KfW, the Netherlands Development Finance Company and private investors. It is run by German fund manager Oppenheim Asset Management.

($ = 0.7848 euro)