BRD Sogelease: We are negotiating a 40m-euro funding with a client

BRD Sogelease, one of the largest leasing companies on the Romanian market, is in negotiations to grant a 40 million-euro funding to a client in the services sector, said Jean-Claude Boloux, the company's general manager. "We have a 40 million-euro project in the services sector, which we are currently negotiating. I am sure foreign investments will keep coming to Romania, especially in the services and distribution sectors, which need funding," Boloux says. So far, the largest funding granted by the company for a project has amounted to 16 million euros. BRD Sogelease is the third largest leasing company affiliated to a bank, with 230.4 million euros' worth of funded goods in 2008. "Our target for 2009 is to record the same business as last year. This will definitely be the toughest year yet," says the head of BRD Sogelease. French-born Boloux, 58, took over at the helm of the company at the end of 2007. He says more than half the clients of the leasing company are brought by the parent bank, BRD Soc-Gen. "Around 70% of our business is generated by the bank via its clients. We are mainly focused on the corporate segment, we have very little business on the retail segment," Boloux adds.