Solaris is winning over European cities through the support of KUKE and Santander Bank Polska
Solaris won a tender for the supply of buses to Madrid and Barcelona through the financial support of KUKE and Santander Bank Polska.
What with the return of the freedom to travel after the pandemic, Polish tourists visiting Madrid will be able to get around Spain’s capital on buses made by the Polish company Solaris. The company has just won a contract for the supply of 250 natural gas (CNG) vehicles to EMT, a company providing public transport bus services in the Spanish capital. A year earlier, Solaris won a tender for the supply of 30 vehicles to Barcelona. In both cases, Solaris competed against other producers with the financial support of KUKE and Santander Bank Polska.
“Solaris is a well-recognised brand not only in Poland and is winning tenders across Europe, becoming an increasingly significant Polish exporter. At KUKE, we have tailored a solution securing the company’s export contracts, which often require guarantees issued by local banks. KUKE assumes the risks from such institutions. When it comes to contracts for the supply of Solaris buses to Madrid and Barcelona, we applied such a solution together with the Santander Group,” explains Kinga Zychowicz from the Insurance and International Cooperation Department at KUKE.
The contract in Madrid is worth EUR 68.6 million, while the one in Barcelona is worth EUR 10.4 million.
“Bank guarantees are an important element of Solaris’ operations. Working with KUKE, we gave our client a guarantee facility corresponding to its advanced needs. We’re tremendously pleased that we could combine forces with KUKE and harness the experience and strong market position of the banks of the Santander Group both in Poland and in Spain. We’re convinced that this is a solution that we will continue to successfully use in many other export markets of our Clients,” Jacek Moćko, Trade Finance Manager at Santander Bank Polska, asserts.
Last year, Solaris signed an agreement with the Management Board of the Municipal Bus Transport Company in Warsaw for the supply of 70 natural gas (CNG) vehicles to Poland’s capital. The value of the contract, which was supported by KUKE’s contract performance bond, was PLN 116 million.
KUKE has for years been supporting projects executed by Polish entrepreneurs outside Poland’s borders, both by granting direct guarantees and counter-guarantees to the guarantees issued by banks. The insurer recently modified its offering for export contract guarantees granted with the support of the State Treasury, simplifying the procedures involved and the documentation requirements and extending the scope of the goods and services covered by it, as well as their application possibilities.
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“KUKE guarantees present advantages to both the exporter and the banks financing them, be they Polish or foreign. Thanks to KUKE’s counter-guarantees, a bank can secure up to 80 percent of its commitments, thereby reducing its risk under a single guarantee to a mere 20 percent or, while maintaining the original risk level, it can increase its limit fivefold per exporter. In effect, the exporter is capable of acquiring further funding for growth and development,” asserts Kinga Zychowicz from KUKE.
In 2020, KUKE supported 62 export projects worth over PLN 5 billion with its guarantees. The total sum of granted guarantees has grown dynamically in recent years. In 2019, it came to PLN 395 million, and – despite the pandemic – reached PLN 460 million the following year.
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