NIB and SG Finans launch third SME leasing facility in Norway, partly Arctic

NIB and Norway’s SG Finans are launching a new EUR 150 million loan facility for financing equipment leasing to small and medium-sized enterprises in Norway. It is expected that up to EUR 25 million of the facility will be used to finance SME leasing in the country’s Arctic area.

Eligible projects to be financed from the lending facility should conform to NIB’s criteria for SMEs.

The new facility is the third loan programme implemented in cooperation with SG Finans. The cooperation between the two financial institutions started in 2013. Within the two previous programmes, SG Finans allocated a total of EUR 230 million to over 7,000 SME leasing projects in the construction, high-tech, manufacturing and some other industries, of which about 2,000 projects were in the Norwegian Arctic region.

“NIB highly values the cooperation with SG Finans in reaching out to the SME sector in Norway, including the country’s Arctic region. This partnership is appreciated by all involved stakeholders, and it proves efficient in alleviating financing constraints that many small businesses experience in their growth”, says Henrik Normann, NIB President & CEO.

“We appreciate greatly the continuation of our strong relationship with NIB. SG Finans core business is the financing of equipment to small and medium businesses in Scandinavia. Our partnership with NIB further strengthen our role in supporting the growth, job creation and development of SME’s in Scandinavia and notably the Arctic region”, says Hans Einar Herzog, Deputy CEO at SG Finans.

The new facility will be guaranteed by the parent bank, Societe Generale. SG Finans is a major equipment leasing and factoring provider in Scandinavia.

NIB is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

SG Finans is part of Societe Generale Equipment Finance, a leading equipment finance company in Europe, fully owned by Societe Generale, one of Europe’s largest financial services groups. Societe Generale is present in 66 countries with a total of 145,000 employees serving 31 million customers.

For further information, please contact

Nordic Investment Bank

Ms Marjo Harri, Senior Director, Origination, at +358 10 618 0227,

Mr Dimitrijs Alehins, Senior Communications Specialist, at +358 10 618 0296,

SG Finans

Mr Hans Einar Herzog, Deputy CEO, at +47 478 97 324,