Estonia, Financial Services, Good for Business, Loan, Markets and Companies

The companies that Kredex helped finance employ 9,655 people combined, and as a result of the projects 610 new jobs are planned to be created, Kredex said on Friday.

During the year 477 new guarantee agreements were signed to guarantee the obligations of 351 enterprises and 336 existing guarantee agreements securing the obligations of 324 businesses were amended. Kredex issued guarantees worth 66 million euros in total, which enabled businesses to raise 114.3 million euros in additional funding.

Guarantees were used the most often last year to finance working capital, finance investments and issue bank guarantees. They were used less often to take out a lease.

The manufacturing industry accounted for 40 percent of the total number of guarantees issued. The construction sector saw a significant increase in the number of Kredex guarantees in 2017, accounting for 23 percent of the total number of guarantees compared with 13.9 percent in 2016. Information and communications surged from 2.4 percent to 10.2 percent.

Nineteen starting enterprises received start-up financing in the total amount of 1.9 million euros under 32 loan contracts. Two loans to finance export transactions were issued to two businesses in the total amount of 1.8 million euros.

According to Jarmo Liiver, head of the Enterprise Division at Kredex, Estonian companies' access to capital has been improving in recent years.

"Where in the year before last we made a record 164 million euros available to businesses by guaranteeing loans, last year our volumes stabilized. For many companies financing opportunities have improved significantly in recent years. At the same time, access to capital continues to be problematic for starting and micro enterprises. We have already carried out changes this year and intend to make several more to improve enterprises' possibilities to raise capital in all phases of development," Liiver said.

As at the end of 2017, there were 1,264 valid guarantee agreements for 911 companies worth altogether 132 million euros in the corporate guarantee portfolio of Kredex, and the outstanding balance was 248 million euros. Since its inception in 2001, Kredex has guaranteed financial obligations for more than 3,600 companies in the total amount of 699 million euros, which has enabled the companies to raise over 1.3 billion euros from banks.

Kredex is a state-owned financial institution tasked with helping to improve the financing options of Estonian enterprises, managing credit risks and helping residents to build and renovate their homes.