Monday, October 21 2013 19:24
EBRD to provide ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank with a $12.5mln loan for on-lending to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and energy saving programs
ArmInfo. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank with a $12.5mln synthetic loan. The joint press release of the EBRD and ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank says that the loan will be provided in Armenian Drams (AMD) for 3 years. $9mln of this amount will be on-lent to micro, small and medium- sized enterprises, and $3.5mln will be spent on energy saving programs.
The source says that this loan will be the third one provided to Armenia by the EBRD under the Caucasus Energy Efficiency Program (CEEP) and the first one provided to ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank. The loan will help the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to acquire and use systems of power conservation systems. For the moment, the EBRD is implementing 19 subprograms on micro and SME financing in Armenia worth a total of $103 mln.
The Financial Rating of the Banks of Armenia by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo), as of 1 October 2013 the total capital of ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank amounted to 52.9 bln AMD (1st position), authorized capital - 30 bln AMD (1st position), total liabilities - 211.1 bln AMD (4th position), assets - 264 bln AMD (3rd position). The share of lending in assets made up 64%, and by the absolute value of this index the Bank is among the top three leaders. By its SME lending, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank was in the lead (56.8 bln AMD, or almost 30% of total lending as of 30 June 2013). Over Jan-Sept 2013, the net profit of the Bank totaled 3.9 bln AMD.
The EBRD is one of the biggest investors in Armenia. The republic has been cooperating with the EBRD since 1994. The EBRD has invested in Armenia over EUR 652mln for 123 programs.
ACBA Credit Agricole Bank has been operating in Armenia since 1995. Credit Agricole S.A. has been the majority shareholder of the Bank since September 2006 (15.56% stake as of 30 June 2013). The other shareholders are SJSC "Sacam International" (12.44%), Director General of the Bank Stepan Gishyan and others.