(AGENPARL) – ven 17 marzo 2023 OFFICIAL USE
EBRD press release
EBRD to become a core shareholder in ProCredit Holding
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Date: 17/03/2023
Contact: Svitlana Pyrkalo
Tags:#EBRD, #small businesses, #financial institutions, #equity
·EBRD to acquire additional 5 per cent stake in ProCredit Holding, bringing its total shareholding to 8.7 per cent
·Bank will become one of the core shareholders of ProCredit Group
·The investment will support the Group’s business strategy, corporate governance and further alignment with the Paris Agreement
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has today entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire an additional stake of 5 per cent in ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA. With the initial 3.6 per cent subscription made in 2018, this brings the EBRD’s stake to 8.7 per cent. As part of the transaction, the EBRD will also acquire a 9.9 per cent stake in the management company, ProCredit General Partner AG. The EBRD will become a core shareholder of the ProCredit Group alongside Zeitinger Invest, KfW, Doen Participaties and ProCredit Staff Invest. The stakes in each entity will be acquired in a private bilateral transaction from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The completion of transaction is subject to regulatory approvals where applicable.
As a new core shareholder, the EBRD will support ProCredit Holding in its transformation to an open joint stock company while preserving its impact orientation, as announced by ProCredit Holding in October 2022. Furthermore, the EBRD will support the Group’s business strategy, governance, and collaborate with ProCredit on furthering its climate mitigation practices and aligning its business and financial flows with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Francis Malige, Managing Director of the EBRD’s Financial Institutions Group, said: “ProCredit is one of our most valued partners in supporting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across 10 economies in central and south-eastern Europe. Together we have provided more than €1 billion in financing to local businesses – the key creators of jobs in most economies – to help improve their access to finance. With this transaction we mark another important milestone in the history of ProCredit, a bank which has SMEs in its DNA. We look forward to doing even more together for a greener, more resilient SME sector in our regions.”
“ProCredit’s successful growth and the impact it has had on its clients over the past two decades is a testament to its focused strategy and the tenacity of its management team,” said Tomasz Telma, Global Director at the IFC’s Financial Institutions Group. “Since the founding of its first banks in 1998, ProCredit Holding has transformed into a regulated SME-focused banking group listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, growing its SME operations across 12 countries. We look forward to seeing ProCredit continue providing its impactful services to SMEs across the region.”
Hubert Spechtenhauser, Chair of the Management Board of ProCredit General Partner, commented: “We are very pleased to soon have the EBRD as a core shareholder, after many years as a funding partner and a shareholder since 2018. We are united by a passion for south-eastern and eastern Europe and the SMEs that drive growth there, and by our conviction that economic development should be climate-friendly and sustainable. The EBRD’s support as a core shareholder for our continued impact orientation is a strong positive signal for the entire ProCredit group. We thank the IFC for supporting us since the early days and we look forward to future work together.”
ProCredit Holding is the parent company of the development-oriented commercial ProCredit Group, with subsidiaries in 10 of the economies where the EBRD invests. Created as a banking group in 2003 and headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, ProCredit is a leading provider of SME and green financing in central and south-eastern Europe.
The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in 36 economies across three continents. In 2022 the Bank achieved a new record volume of €13 billion, with 50 per cent of the projects supporting the transition to a green economy.
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