The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a microfinance investment fund, agreed a €25m senior loan to Banca Intesa a.d. Belgrade, Serbia.
The loan will be used to further on-lending to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) across the country, especially supporting the bank’s growth strategy, which aims to expand the penetration of loans to small businesses also in the segment of agriculture, where financing needs remain very high.
The bank, a subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo, is the leading bank in domestic market, with 1.4m clients including physical persons, entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized enterprises, large companies and local authorities.
EFSE is one of the largest single providers of finance for MSEs in Southeast Europe. Since its inception in December 2005, the fund has invested a cumulative total of over EUR 710m in Southeast Europe, facilitating more than 200,000 loans to MSEs and low-income private households.
FinSMEs
26/03/2010