REG/ EBRD: EIF, EBRD, EC AND DEG STEP UP SME SUPPORT IN THE WESTERN BALKANS

www.wbif.eu The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed a €14.5 million subscription
 agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to
 support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Western Balkans region under
 the Western Balkans Enterprise Expansion Fund (ENEF). DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und
 Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH invested €5 million into this fund.

 ENEF is part of the Western Balkans Enterprise Development and Innovation Facility
 (WB EDIF) platform, which aims at enhancing and supporting access to finance for micro
 and small to medium-sized enterprises across the Western Balkans. The Fund focuses on
 development and expansion capital for SMEs with high growth potential in their respective
 markets. ENEF provides primarily equity, quasi-equity and convertible bonds to selected
 investee companies.

 The EBRD plays a key role in ENEF, as its biggest single investor and its investment adviser. The Bank will also make parallel co-financing available to the Fund through its Local Enterprise Facility (LEF).

 ENEF works in synergy with the other pillars of WB EDIF, which are: (a) the Enterprise Innovation Fund (ENIF) for innovative companies from the start-up phase to the expansion of their development; (b) the Guarantee Facility, which provides guarantees and counter guarantees to financial intermediaries in the region; and (c) the Technical Assistance Facility to support governments of beneficiary economies in implementing policy reforms supporting the growth of SMEs.

 To date, three agreements for a total of €60 million have been signed under the Guarantee Facility with ProCredit Albania, Procredit Bosnia and Herzegovina and ProCredit Kosovo in support of local SMEs.

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