BGK to help small firms get a foot in the door on foreign markets

Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) will set up a fund aiming to promote the foreign expansion of Polish small and medium enterprises. To begin with, the fund will have PLN 100 million at its disposal, but within seven years, it should wield a lump sum of PLN 1.5 billion, according to an ISBnews release. "We are thinking of small investments in the range of PLN 5-50 million, but if some interesting projects come up, we may consider a larger sum," said BGK president Dariusz Kacprzyk. The fund would hold about 40-50 percent of the investment in a given project and would exit looking to make a profit. Small companies would thus be able to get financing for their expansion abroad. BGK's lending division is but one of two pillars of the "Inwestycje Polskie" program, meant to support Polish companies in their efforts abroad.