NEWS
Symbiotics and TBC Leasing Increase Availability of Finance for Georgian SMEs by Concluding a USD 16m Loan Facility
DECEMBER 2020Within their successful long-term partnership, JSC TBC Leasing and the Swiss-based impact investing company Symbiotics SA have reached a new agreement, through which Symbiotics SA has granted an additional USD 16 million senior loan to TBC Leasing (or “TBCL”). The new facility will help support various leasing programs in Georgia and targets the SME sector, TBCL’s main customer segment. SMEs represent a growing sector with emerging economic potential and make up the majority of operating businesses, which have shown innovative approaches against fighting crisis, while remaining stable debtors. The Georgian Government is actively engaged in encouraging further SME sector development via its subsidized loan programs and various promotional efforts.
The SME segment makes up two thirds of TBCL’s client portfolio. Furthermore, TBCL’s expansion goal is reflected by the trend of an increasing number of newly registered SME entities being rural, leading to a more balanced geographical concentration of the portfolio. The SME sector remains the target segment of TBCL, since leasing itself caters to uncovered SME needs, that are more appealing and competitive against bank products.
“The pandemic situation made this financial year extraordinary, many plans had to be revised and some goals were not as easy to meet as it was preliminarily expected. Despite volatilities, the company is able to finance new projects and meanwhile allow its existing clients to take advantage of Grace periods - release them from lease payments during 3 to 6 months period. During such crisis, Symbiotics’s continuous support and outstanding cooperation was significant stimulus for continuous assistance of our clients in their needs and for being reliable partner in supporting stability, strength and growth. As well as from companies point of view currency fluctuation risks were insured and additional flexibility was provided by opportunity to denominate the part of the facility in GEL.” – Nugzar Loladze, CFO, TBCL
“Within almost 5 years of successful collaboration TBC Leasing has proven to be a trustworthy partner pursuing an important mission of providing access to finance to small- and medium-size enterprises in Georgia, which seek to increase their productive capacities and continue to drive the sustainable economic growth. We are glad to support TBC Leasing with new funding this year, including a portion denominated in local currency, amidst the unprecedented worldwide distress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and look forward to continuing to contribute together to the development of the real economy of Georgia in the future” – Sofia Tulupova, co-Regional Manager for ECA and MENAP at Symbiotics. Over the term of the facility, it is expected that financing will serve over 200 SMEs and quadruple as many individuals directly or indirectly employed and related to the funded entities.
About TBC Leasing – TBC Leasing is a member of TBC Group and the largest leasing company in Georgia, with 17 years of experience in the industry and a market share of up to 70%. The Company has numerous local and international trusted vendors and partners. As of today, TBC Leasing is active in almost all business sectors and provides its services to medical, transportation, HORECA, trading, agricultural, renewable energy industries among others, along with retail clients.
About Symbiotics SA - Symbiotics is the leading market access platform for impact investing, dedicated to financing micro- small and medium enterprises and low- and middle-income households in emerging and frontier markets. Since 2005, Symbiotics has structured and originated some 4,000 deals for over 450 companies in almost 90 emerging and frontier markets representing more than USD 5.5 billion. These investments have been purchased by more than 25 fund mandates and more than 50 third party specialized fund managers, forming a growing ecosystem and marketplace for such transactions
