On January 28, 2016 at CANSEE General Meeting, “EBRD Workshop” was held, where the EBRD Director in Serbia, Mr. Daniel Berg, explained to CANSEE members which criteria a company should meet to obtain a loan from this prestigious Bank.
As explained by Mr.Berg in his presentation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Serbia has an active portfolio, which currently consists of 122 projects in the total amount of 2.5 billion euros, which places the Serbian representative office, compared to the others, at the sixth position in the world.
EBRD Projects in Serbia include various sectors, being mostly within the areas of infrastructure (37%), financial institutions (30%), trade and agro-business (17%), and energy and natural resources (16%).
Loans are granted in the form of large amount loans for projects of general public significance, then medium and small loans, against the prerequisite that the projects have the products that are competitive on the market or are important for economic and infrastructural development of the country.
Besides these criteria, it is necessary to meet also those criteria relating to the areas such as environmental protection, transparency, gender equality, and other.
Mr. Berg pointed out that “although the EBRD has very strict criteria for companies, the most important benefit that distinguishes EBRD from commercial banks is their long-term loans”.
Among all the EBRD activities in Serbia, he primarily singled out the projects implemented in cooperation with the local governments of Belgrade, Subotica, Nis, Novi Sad and Kragujevac, as well as infrastructural projects in the rehabilitation of the Belgrade-Novi Sad highway, the Belgrade highway and belt highway, modernization of air traffic in Serbia, as well as with the state-owned enterprises Railways Serbia, EPS, Srbijagas, Kolubara, etc.
These are some of the companies and banks from Serbia which the EBRD has established cooperation with: Hemofarm, GTC Belgrade, Ball Packaging, Soko Štark, Nectar, Victoria Group, Frikom, SBB, Sevojno, Grand, Somboled, Mladost Sid, IDEA, Forma Ideale, Galeb, MK Group, Orion, Old Mill, Nissal, Beohemija, Komercijalna Banka, Raiffeisen bank, Societe Generale Bank, Procredit Bank, UniCredit Bank, Privredna Banka Beograd, Banca Intesa, Societe Generale, Erste Bank, etc.
In regards to the cooperation with Canada, the total value of EBRD projects with Canada amounts to 4.67 billion euros, out of which 3.31 billion euros is provided by the EBRD and 1.36 billion euros by Canada, however, so far, the countries that have benefited from this cooperation currently are only Bulgaria, Romania, Mongolia and Ukraine.
EBRD possesses 3.383 projects in the world, whose value reaches 252 billion euros, and representative offices are spreading in the territory from central Europe to central Asia.
EBRD loans for smaller projects
EBRD in Serbia has a special department to assist small businesses, as well as the service for financial consulting support to companies.
In case the small companies, primarily from the private sector, are willing to be granted the EBRD loan for the establishment or expansion of small businesses, they have to prove that they have / can provide the following:
• Strong management/governing structure.
• Products that are competitive on the market.
• Information on owners / partners.
• Financial history.
• Insurance/collateral in the form of pledge, mortgage, etc.
• Funds provided must be used in strict accordance with the objectives set out in the original business plan.
• In line with the mandate of the EBRD, the banks have a responsibility to ensure that all proposals pay appropriate attention to the environmental issues.
• Funding cannot be provided to the companies which are in majority state ownership or for projects guaranteed by the Government.