News

Bucharest, 22 September 2013

ProCredit Holding has completed its purchase of stakes of ProCredit Bank Romania. As a result of this purchase, ProCredit Holding is the main shareholder of ProCredit Bank Romania. International Projekt Consult GmbH (IPC) remains minority shareholder of the bank.

This move is part of a global consolidation strategy whereby ProCredit Holding, the German-based parent company of the ProCredit group, acquired the minority stakes in all ProCredit banks, thus strengthening the group’s capital base and enhancing its operational synergies. The ProCredit group is under the consolidated supervision of the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority since 2012.

The ProCredit group comprises 11 institutions in Eastern Europe, seven in Latin America three in Africa and one bank in Germany. The shareholders of ProCredit Holding include the global consulting company IPC, the DOEN Foundation, the IFC, KfW and FMO. These shareholders will continue to be closely involved in ProCredit Bank Romania via the holding company.

“The aim is to strengthen the worldwide group of ProCredit banks through the decisive leadership and strong capital base of ProCredit Holding,”says Helen Alexander, member of the management board of ProCredit Holding. “This global consolidation started more than five years ago. Our strong financial results show that this has proved very successful.”

Mid 2013, the ProCredit banking group has an outstanding loan portfolio of EUR4.3 billion comprised of some 514,000 loans, 92% of which are smaller than EUR 30,000 and have been issued to small businesses. At the same time, the group has a deposit base of over EUR 3.7 billion held in nearly 3.2 million accounts.

The consolidated financial statements for the ProCredit group at mid 2013 showed an equity base of EUR 513 million and a return on equity of 8.7%.

ProCredit Bank Romania founded in 2002 remains a reliable and responsible partner for its clients. After ending 2012 with good results, the bank reported mid 2013 an outstanding loan portfolio of EUR 240 million and customer deposits of EUR 192 million. Thus, ProCredit Bank maintains a comfortable liquidity level at all times, despite difficult macroeconomic conditions.

The bank intends to strengthen its customer base especially in the very small and small business sector and plans to have a constant growth also in the following years maintaining its development oriented and socially and environmentally responsible lending approach. At the same time, the institution will continue focusing in promoting a savings culture amongst its customers, thus bringing security and stability for the ordinary households.

"With this purchase of stakes, ProCredit Holding confirmed it’s trust in the stability of the bank, and has reaffirmed the long-term commitment towards local entrepreneurs, to support their development and have a significant contribution to the growth of the Romanian economy.” says Ilinca Rosetti, General Manager of ProCredit Bank Romania. “We are planning to continue on this development trend for the institution in Romania, to properly and professionally serve all our target groups – very small, small and medium-sized businesses, agricultural companies and private clients. This approach will benefit from the support of the German-based international group through our, now, main shareholder, ProCredit Holding.”.

Background information

ProCredit Holding is the parent company of a global group of 22 ProCredit banks. ProCredit Holding was founded as Internationale Micro Investitionen AG (IMI) in 1998 by the pioneering development finance consultancy company IPC.

ProCredit Holding is committed to expanding access to financial services in developing countries and transition economies by building a group of banks that are the leading providers of fair, transparent financial services for very small, small and medium-sized businesses as well as for the general population in their countries of operation. In addition to meeting the equity needs of its subsidiaries, ProCredit Holding guides the development of the ProCredit banks, provides their senior management, and supports the banks in all key areas of activity, including banking operations, human resources and risk management. It ensures that ProCredit’s corporate values, international best practice procedures and Basel II risk management principles are implemented group-wide in line with standards also set by the German supervisory authorities.

IPC is the leading shareholder and strategic investor in ProCredit Holding. IPC has been the driving entrepreneurial force behind the ProCredit group since the foundation of the banks.

ProCredit Holding is a public-private partnership. In addition to IPC and IPC Invest (the investment vehicle of the staff of IPC and ProCredit), the other private shareholders of ProCredit Holding include the Dutch DOEN Foundation, the US pension fund TIAA-CREF, the US Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund and the Swiss investment fund responsAbility. The public-sector shareholders of ProCredit Holding include KfW (the German promotional bank), IFC (the private sector arm of the World Bank), FMO (the Dutch development bank), BIO (the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries) and Proparco (the French Investment and Promotions Company for Economic Cooperation).

ProCredit Holding has an investment grade rating (BBB-) from Fitch Ratings. As of mid-2013, the equity base of the ProCredit group is EUR 513 million. The total assets of the ProCredit group are EUR 5.8 billion.

In Eastern Europe, the ProCredit group operates in Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine.

ProCredit Bank Romaniais a development-oriented full-service bank. We offer excellent customer service to private individuals and enterprises. In our operations, we adhere to a number of core principles: we value transparency in our communication with customers, we do not promote consumer lending and we provide services which are based both on an understanding of each client’s situation and on sound financial analysis. This responsible approach to banking allows us to build long-term partnerships with our clients based on mutual trust.

In our operations with business clients, we focus on very small, small and medium-sized enterprises, as we are convinced that these businesses create jobs and make a vital contribution to the economies in which they operate. By offering simple and accessible deposit facilities and other banking services and by investing substantial resources in financial education we aim to promote a culture of savings and responsibility which can help to bring greater stability and security to ordinary households.

Our shareholders expect a sustainable return on investment over the long term, rather than being focused on short-term profit maximisation. We invest extensively in the training and development of our staff in order to create an open and efficient working atmosphere, and to provide friendly and competent service for our customers.