Teraju, SME Bank unveil RM500m Islamic loan facility

RM500M TERAS FUND: For high-flying Bumi companiesto use as working capital and to buy assets
UNIT Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (Teraju) and SME Bank have launched a RM500 million Islamic loan facility aimed at high-performing Bumiputera companies.

Source From (Business Times): http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20120707005716/Article/index_html
Published: Monday July 07, 2012

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the new fund called the TeraS Fund is to facilitate the business expansion of high-performing Bumiputera companies under the Teraju TeraS programme.

"The loan facility will be available next month and is for working capital and to buy assets," Nor Mohamed told reporters here yesterday after launching the fund.

Under the new TeraS fund, SME Bank will offer a loan facility of up to RM20 million per company to facilitate their business expansion programme.

The fund is open to TeraS companies that fall under the small and medium enterprise (SME) category.

Out of the RM500 million, RM150 million will be channelled to companies to be used as working capital while the remaining RM350 million is to buy assets.

For working capital, each company can get working capital funding as high as RM10 million while to buy assets, each firm can borrow up to RM20 million.

The Islamic scheme only charges an interest rate of five per cent a year.

"We expect good response from the 130 companies already under the TeraS programme as the loan does not impose strict collateral like other commercial banks.

"Out of the 130 firms, 41 companies are already SME clients and we expect it to be fully distributed in one year," said Nor Mohamed.

Teraju TeraS programme was launched in July 2011 with the aim of identifying 1,100 high-performing Bumiputera companies with good potential for growth, helping them grow beyond local market and facilitating access to business opportunities.

To date, 130 companies under the TeraS programme have been chosen for its good track record, financial standing and growth potential.

Teraju was set up by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in February 2011 to lead, coordinate and drive Bumiputera economic participation through existing and new initiatives and to propose reforms to increase its effectiveness.