EIF and Commerzbank securitisation agreement for EUR 2bn portfolio of German SMEs loans

The European Investment Fund (EIF) has provided a mezzanine tranche cover guarantee to Commerzbank AG on a EUR 2bn portfolio of German SME and Mid-Cap loans.

EIF’s guarantee allows Commerzbank to release a significant amount of the capital on a portfolio of over 2,000 loans granted to Commerzbank’s SME & Mid-Caps clients over the next three years. The freed up regulatory capital will provide extra capacity for Commerzbank to further grow their SME and Small Mid-Cap portfolio therefore increasing its support for SME lending in Germany.

The transaction was structured synthetically on a blind pool basis and the risk transfer was achieved with the assets on the Bank’s the balance sheet.
EIF is an active player in the securitisation of SME portfolios and guarantee arena for senior and mezzanine tranches.

Last year alone, EIF signed approximately EUR 1bn of securitisation agreements including support for mezzanine tranches both for funding and regulatory capital release in 9 countries. This transaction benefits from the EIB Group Risk Enhancement Mandate (EREM), signed between the EIB and EIF in order to support the impaired financing of European businesses.

About the EIF

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops both venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment.
 
About Commerzbank
 
Commerzbank is a leading international commercial bank with branches and offices in more than 50 countries. The core markets of Commerzbank are Germany and Poland. With the business areas Private Customers, Mittelstandsbank, Corporates & Markets and Central & Eastern Europe, its private customers and corporate clients, as well as institutional investors, profit from a comprehensive portfolio of banking and capital market services. Commerzbank finances more than 30 per cent of Germany’s foreign trade and is the unchallenged leader in financing for SMEs. With its subsidiaries Comdirect and Poland’s M Bank it owns two of the world’s most innovative online banks. With approximately 1,050 branches and more than 90 advisory centres for business customers Commerzbank has one of the densest branch networks among German private banks. In total, Commerzbank boasts more than 16 million private customers, as well as 1 million business and corporate clients. The Bank, which was founded in 1870, is represented at all the world’s major stock exchanges. In 2015, it generated gross revenues of EUR 9.8 billion with 51,300 employees.
 
Press contacts:

EIF: David Yormesor, Tel.: +352 42 66 88 346, e-mail: d.yormesor@eif.org
Commerzbank: Bernd Reh Tel.:+49 69 136 - 46971, e-mail: bernd.reh@commerzbank.com