OeEB invests in European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE)

In June 2008, OeEB invested EUR 30 million in the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE). Since then, OeEB has continuously increased its stake and currently holds shares of around EUR 60 million.

Project name	European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE)
Region	Southeast Europe
Sector	Financial sector / Microfinance / SME
Service	Investment Finance
OeEB project volume	EUR 60 million
Projekt partner(s)	European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE)

EFSE is a micro-finance fund which provides loans to micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Southeast Europe and the South Caucasus region via local finance institutes.

EFSE's investments and the work of the EFSE Development Facility are instrumental in further developing local financial sectors, strengthening the business environment and broadening access to financial products.

OeEB's investment in EFSE makes an important contribution to meeting the capital requirements of the fund and thus to promoting and stabilizing the economic development of the region.

Since its inception in 2005, EFSE has grown to be one of the largest development finance funds in the world with a total capital of nearly EUR 1 billion. Since 2005, funding of over EUR 2.7 billion has been made available to local partner institutions. A total of around 1 million loans have been granted which helped secure and create more than 830,000 jobs.