BUSINESS NEWS
IDC/Thales deal to boost small firms
Posted Thu, 21 Jul 2005
A multi-million rand agreement to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was signed in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
In entails a R325-million concessional financing deal between
the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Thales
International Offsets, in co-operation with Calyon investment bank.
The IDC said: "In line with the IDC's development mandate, this
five-year facility will be used to promote and sustain SME
development in historically poorer provinces."
Provinces to benefit from investment projects included the
Eastern Cape, North West, Limpopo and the Free State.
"This facility will further be used to fund enterprises that are
adjacent to townships and SMEs located in rural areas," the IDC
said in a statement.
Its strategy was to focus on job creation, black economic
empowerment and financial assistance to SMEs to help sustain and
develop South Africa's economy.
The IDC said Thales was arranging
this financing facility under
the auspices of the South African National Industrial Participation
Programme (NIPP).
Under this programme, international companies interested in
government contracts are required to develop and invest in projects
providing long-term benefits to the country.
Thales has been involved in the NIPP since its inception in the
late 1990s and has since then developed several projects in a
variety of industries.
IDC head of corporate funding Bharti Harie said the loan was the
cheapest source of commercial funding that the IDC had recently
received.
In approving the loan, the Department of Trade and Industry had
allowed a wholesale facility to IDC, who would lend the funds to
individual SME clients.
Thales International Offsets is a wholly-owned unit of Thales, a
leading international electronics and systems group, serving
defence, aerospace, security and services markets worldwide.
Sapa
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