Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan’s AccessBank has received the first tranche of $10 million from the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) and the Austrian Development Bank (OeEB) under a $20 million syndicated loan, AccessBank said Tuesday.

The three-year loan, as was the case with all loans received by AccessBank from foreign investors, will be directed to financing micro and small businesses across Azerbaijan.

FMO’s CEO Nanno Kleiterp said this debt facility provides AccessBank with the possibility to expand their business, adding that it will strongly contribute to Azerbaijan’s further economic development.

Andrea Hagmann, member of OeEB’s Executive Board, said that by partnering with AccessBank, OeEB can increase the availability of funding for Azerbaijani small and medium businesses, thereby supporting the creation of jobs and economic growth.

Andrew Pospielovsky, General Manager of AccessBank, said the allocation is the first funding AccessBank has received from FMO and OeEB and it will allow the bank to expand its financing of small business, especially in the agricultural sector and across the regions of Azerbaijan.

AccessBank’s mission is to provide access to financial services for Azerbaijan’s low and middle income households and micro and small businesses. AccessBank is 100% foreign owned by six shareholders: the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, KfW Development Bank – the Development Bank of the German Government (20% share each), AccessHolding - a strategic investor in microfinance (16.5%), and LFS Financial Systems (3.5%).

FMO is the entrepreneurial development bank of the Netherlands. FMO invests risk capital in companies and financial institutions in developing countries. With an investment portfolio of 4.6 billion euros, FMO is one of the largest bilateral private sector development banks worldwide. Thanks in part to its relationship with the Dutch government, FMO is able to take risks which commercial financiers are not - or not yet - prepared to take. FMO's mission is to create flourishing enterprises, which can serve as engines of sustainable growth in their countries.

OeEB has been operating as the official Development Bank of Austria since March 2008. It is specialized in the provision of long-term finance for the implementation of private sector projects in developing countries which create sustainable development. OeEB provides tailor-made financing solutions for a diverse set of long-term investments that would otherwise find it difficult to raise funding or borrow money in international capital markets.