A good year after its listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA was able to mobilise around EUR 61m through the placement of almost 5.4m new shares. This meant an increase in the company's share capital by 10% and thus the utilisation of all authorised capital. The new shares were mainly placed with institutional investors in Germany and Great Britain. The capital raised will support the specialised SME banking group in expanding its lending to small and medium businesses in South Eastern and Eastern Europe.
Borislav Kostadinov, Member of the Management Board of ProCredit Holding, Frankfurt am Main, explained: “Our banks have earned an excellent reputation as a reliable partner for SMEs and we consider such companies to be the key pillar to positive economic development in South Eastern and Eastern Europe. In countries such as Bulgaria, we also expect conditions to remain favourable for the SME sector to grow further. As a responsible group of banks, we are keen to foster economic growth that is underpinned by environmental and social considerations. Therefore, we were happy to find that our unique approach as well as the positive development prospects for our SME clients have resonated clearly on the capital market.”
Petar Slavov, Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of ProCredit Bank (Bulgaria) commented: “The successful capital increase for us is a clear sign of confidence in our group and in our way of doing banking. ProCredit Bank (Bulgaria) will continue working successfully as the “Hausbank” for SMEs that have good development and growth potential. In regard to their support, we seek to facilitate their access to investment and working capital loans, trade finance and comprehensive banking services.
Contact:
Lachezar.Aleksiev, ProCredit Bank (Bulgaria) EAD
e-mail: Lachezar.Aleksiev@procreditbank.bg
Nataliya.Naydenova, ProCredit Bank (Bulgaria) EAD
e-mail: Nataliya.Naydenova@procreditbank.bg
Tel.: 02/ 8135 103
ProCredit Bank (Bulgaria) EAD was founded in October 2001 by an alliance of international development-oriented investors. Today, the bank's sole owner is ProCredit Holding, based in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). ProCredit Holding is the parent company of the development-oriented ProCredit group, which consists of commercial banks for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and whose main operational focus is on South Eastern and Eastern Europe. The primary mission of ProCredit Bank EAD is to support the development of SMEs and to foster a favorable environment for the growth of the Bulgarian economy.