MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Green for Growth Fund Loans $22m to UniCredit Bank Serbia for Renewable Energy Projects

The Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe (GGF), a Luxembourg-based facility investing in environmental efforts, recently announced it will loan EUR 20 million (USD 21.9 million) to UniCredit Bank Serbia, an arm of Italy’s UniCredit Group, to “reduce carbon dioxide emissions” by on-lending the funds to enable “renewable energy projects.” To maximize the likelihood of the projects’ success, GGF will provide support to end-borrowers through MACS Management & Consulting Services, a Germany-based sustainability consulting firm.

Christopher Knowles, the Chairman of GGF, summarized his confidence in the new venture as follows: “This new partnership with UniCredit Bank offers the GGF the chance to help build and strengthen Serbia’s renewable energy sector with long-term, competitive financing, which supports the fund’s overall mission to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency in the markets it serves.”

UniCredit Group reports its collective “exposure [to] the renewable energy sector…exceeded EUR 9.4 billion” (USD 9.9 billion) as of the end of 2016. UniCredit Group, which has 7,100 branches in 17 countries in Europe, reported total assets of EUR 881.1 billion (USD 945.9 billion) as of March 31, 2017. As of the same date, UniCredit Bank Serbia reported total assets of RSD 317.3 billion (USD 2.74 billion).

Created by the EU’s European Investment Bank and Germany’s KfW Development Bank, GGF focuses on extending the use of renewable energy sources and enhancing energy efficiency in Southeast Europe. As of 2015, it reported an outstanding portfolio of EUR 307 million (USD 335 million).

By Colin Mulligan, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

GGF
Press release: http://www.ggf.lu/pressnews/detail/unicredit-bank-provides-eur-20-million-for-renewable-energy-financing-with-ggf-senior-loan/
About the organization: http://www.ggf.lu/about-green-for-growth-fund/institutional-structure/
Balance sheet: http://ggf.lu/fileadmin/user_upload/05_downloads/annual_reports/GGF_annual_Report_2015/GGF_Report2015_web.pdf

UniCredit Group balance sheet: https://www.unicreditgroup.eu/en/investors/financial-highlights.html

UniCredit Bank Serbia, financial statement dated March 31, 2017: https://www.unicreditbank.rs/content/dam/cee2020-pws-rs/Institutional/documents/Financial%20reports/2017/BALANCE%20SHEET%20AS%20AT%2031ST%20MARCH%202017.pdf

MACS Management & Consulting Services:
http://macsonline.de/ivs/

Do you know that MicroCapital publishes the MicroCapital Monitor newspaper each month? Find out more at https://www.microcapital.org/products-page/.