UniCredit Leasing announces through its CEO, Mr. Melih Mengü, the signature of a loan agreement for 50 million euros from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) to finance small and medium-size enterprises. According to the CEB requirements, the net assets of the financed companies should not exceed 75 million euros, and the employees’ number 500. Among the most important criteria of selecting the lessees are the feasibility of the investment project and the professional experience of the investor. UniCredit Leasing finances within the facility a diversity of investment projects including green-field projects. The contribution of the funds under the contract with CEB should not be more than 50 per cent of the overall project value and the lease duration would be up to 10 years. The leases will be EUR and the interest rate is very attractive for the lessees, being in the range of interests offered by commercial banks.
UniCredit Leasing promotes the leasing business in Romania and it has a leading position in the leasing market, mainly in equipment financing, with a share of around 30%, the overall market share being around 9%. To date, UniCredit Leasing has financed equipment for enterprises as diverse as agriculture, food industry, constructions, wood processing, metal processing, transportation, textiles and leather, vehicle (passenger and commercial vehicles), real estate etc. In 2005, the portfolio breakdown is the following: industrial equipment – 45%, real estate – 5% and vehicles – 50% out of which passenger cars – 18%, light commercial vehicles – 6%, heavy commercial vehicles – 19% and buses – 7%. The lease portfolio includes many lessees, from large multinationals, public entities, municipalities and small and medium size enterprises, all of whom have grown based on the support granted by UniCredit Leasing.
At October-end, UniCredit Leasing signed contracts for financing assets amounting to EUR 133 million, growing by 104% yoy. The total asset size of UniCredit Leasing was EUR 201 million, increasing by 95% yoy. The increased business volumes during 2005 and the good quality of the portfolio was reflected positively into the company’s profitability, the net profit reaching 4.7 million EUR, growing by 138% yoy. It is estimated that total contracts signed at the year-end would reach EUR 160 million in terms of asset value, while the net profit would reach around EUR 6 million EUR. During 2005 the company’s share capital was increased by 7 million EUR, reaching to EUR 15 million, the highest value on the Romanian market.
The funds used by UniCredit Leasing for lease financing are provided not only by the parent company UniCredito Italiano S.p.A., but also by reputed international financial institutions. Similar with CEB facility, last year the company concluded another loan for financing rural projects within the World Bank Rural Finance Program, with a tenor of 13 years.
According to Mr. Melih Mengü, in 2006 UniCredit Leasing will focus on real estate, public auctions and financing of municipalities. In the same time, the development of the network will be continued, during 2006 further 17 branches being planned to be opened, the total number of branches being planned to reach 29 by December 2006. Currently the company has a network of 12 branches which are contributing by 40% to the new business generation. The company has currently 79 employees, 39% more than in October 2004.
UniCredit Leasing is was incorporated back in 1994 under the name of Romlease S.A. UniCredit Group, the main shareholder of UniCredit Leasing Romania S.A, owns also Locat Leasing S.p.A., the largest leasing company in Italy in terms of market share. UniCredit Group also operates in Romania through UniCredit Romania Bank and UniCredit Produzioni Accentrate (UPA), specialized in operational banking services. UniCredit Group is one of the major European financial institutions with a market capitalization of around EUR 30 billion and with total assets of over EUR 266 billion. UniCredit has a network of over 4,600 branches and around 70,000 people all over the world and it is recognized as a leader in Central and Eastern Europe region.
