Gazprombank, the banking arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom, and Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo are ready to grant loans of up to 300 million euros through its newly established joint venture to finance medium-sized businesses, Gazprombank said on Monday.
The two banks signed an agreement earlier on Monday to establish a joint venture on a basis of parity to support Italian companies wanting to start a business in Russia and Russian companies which plan on entering the European market.
“We believe that the development of the Russian-Italian economic cooperation, including exchange of technologies, resources and sales areas, could be very useful for many companies in both countries. Even now we see a wide range of companies among Gazprombank’s clients which are interested in raising cooperation to a new level,” Gazprombank Deputy Board Chairman Viktor Komanov was quoted in a statement as saying.
The agreement would provide support to Italian companies so they would be allowed to develop industrial and trade links with Russia, Intesa Board Chairman Antonio Fallico, appointed as the chairman of the supervisory board of the joint venture, said.