EIF, Raiffeisen Leasing Bulgaria sign 40 mln euro guarantee deal to back SME investment

The financing is provided under the Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME) programme, launched by the European Commission, and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the EIF said in a statement.

The additional guarantee agreement will benefit Bulgarian SMEs that need support in order to implement their investments in the purchase or replacement of fixed assets through leasing financing, the EIF explained.

Over 200 SMEs have already implemented their investment plans through Raiffeisen Leasing Bulgaria under the COSME programme, having sighed over 1,000 leasing contracts worth over 45 million euro in total, Nikolay Hristov, manager at Raiffeisen Leasing noted.

Raiffeisen Leasing Bulgaria is fully owned by Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria, a member of Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International.

($ = 0.816090 euro)