The Black Sea Trade & Development Bank (BSTDB) will make available a US$5mn medium-term SME loan facility to the Bulgarian CB Unionbank. The loan facility, which carries a tenor of four years, will be used to finance sub-loans extended by the Unionbank to multiple SMEs in Bulgaria.

The support BSTDB is providing through CB Unionbank will be primarily addressed for working capital financing, as well as for export and pre-export financing for industrial or agricultural enterprises.
With the loan facility to CB Unionbank, BSTDB has now approved a total of US$48mn to Bulgarian financial intermediaries enabling the financing of SMEs in the country and the region.

CB Unionbank, a privately owned commercial bank, started its operations in 1994. The bank operates its business from 17 branches and 1 office in Bulgaria and its customer base consists primarily of small and medium-sized enterprises. Unionbank participates in the SME financing programmes of international financial institutions, such as EBRD and KfW.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters are in Thessaloniki, Greece. With an authorised capital of SDR1bn (US$1.5bn), the bank supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing financing, guarantees, and equity for projects in the public and private sectors in its member countries. Since the commencement of operations in 1999, BSTDB has approved projects and trade finance operations totalling over US$675mn. BSTDB is rated Long Term Baa2 and Short Term P2 by Moody’s .