Crédit Agricole has led a SKr47bn (US$4.8bn) loan to Poland for the purchase of three submarines for the country’s navy, backed by a guarantee from Sweden’s export credit agency (ECA).
The loan is being provided to the Polish State Treasury Armaments Agency via state lender Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK).
The proceeds will be used to pay for a contract with Swedish defence firm Saab that includes the delivery of three A26 naval submarines, weaponry, training and support. The final vessel delivery is slated for 2038.
The transaction is among many big-ticket defence loans backed by European ECAs in recent years, as the continent ratchets up military spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and pressure from the United States to make bigger contributions to Nato.
Crédit Agricole acted as sole underwriter, bookrunner, sole global coordinator, initial mandated lead arranger, documentation bank, and facility and ECA agent on the deal, which it disclosed in a July 28 LinkedIn post.
EKN, the Swedish ECA, told GTR the loan benefits from a 100% guarantee as the agency does not apply an excess to sovereign exposures. It is the largest-ever defence guarantee issued by EKN and the first to be led by a commercial bank, Crédit Agricole said.
The French lender declined to comment further on the deal or name any other lenders. BGK did not respond to questions about the loan.
Defence has emerged as one of Sweden’s highest-value exports and was the largest single sector in EKN’s portfolio last year.
Its share of EKN’s overall cover is likely to be even higher this year, with the value of the guarantee to Poland nearing the total value of the agency’s entire guarantee issuance in 2025 (SKr57bn), according to its annual report.
Poland plans to spend almost 5% of its GDP on defence in 2026, the highest rate in Nato. It has previously used ECA-covered financing while shopping for military hardware abroad.
In 2024, the country secured a £9bn loan from commercial banks, covered by a UK Export Finance guarantee, to procure missiles from MBDA.
And last year, BGK sealed a US$6.5bn loan from Santander, covered by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation and Export-Import Bank of Korea, for the import of weaponry.
“Our role is to secure funds for tasks designated by the government in a manner that is responsible, cost-effective, and safe for public finances,” Marta Postuła, first vice president of BGK’s management board, said in June after the announcement of a memorandum of understanding with EKN.
“That is why we are consistently diversifying the funding sources for the Armed Forces Support Fund and adopting solutions that enable the implementation of the most important defence investments.”
As part of the contract with Poland, Saab has committed to establishing “maintenance, repair and overhaul capabilities” inside the country.
