Banca Transilvania gets cash injection from IFC

“This loan will enable us to continue lending and expand our strong presence in Romania's healthcare sector,” said Robert Rekkers, CEO of BT. He added that the lender intends to remain the top choice for private health care providers and entrepreneurs in Romania. BT launched its private health care provider division – “divizia pentru medici” (DPM) – in 2007, the newest business line for the lender. Since then, the division has signed over 3,200 loan contracts worth EUR 150 million and amassed 16,000 active customers (doctors, as well as medium and large clients). According to specialists, the private health services market is estimated at about EUR 300 million. Until now, the division has focused on small and medium clients with less than EUR 500,000 in turnover. The EUR 50 million loan will be used to finance medium and large customers, whose turnovers are above EUR 500,000. The division is intended to cover the whole private healthcare sector and is expected to increase this year by 20 percent on 2008. Since January, it has signed loan contracts worth EUR 25 million. The biggest project it has financed was worth EUR 1.5 million, while a typical one comes in at hundreds of thousands of euros. Fady Chreih, head of the bank's DPM, added that 60 percent of the loans went to university centers such as Iasi, Cluj, Targu Mures, Timisioara and Bucharest, with the remaining 40 percent going to other counties.
Anda Dragan