Punjas and BRED relationship started in 2018 with an Export Finance Facility for the group. BBF also helped facilitate a credit line with BRED Vanuatu. The relationship has been nurtured for last 2 years and when the BRED team became aware of the decision of Punjas Biscuit Pte Limited to expand their line, a courtesy visit was made by BRED Bank’s Deputy CEO & Head of Business Development (Rajesh Kumar) and Regional Manager – Business Banking West (Bharat Kumar) to discuss the project and how we could assist.
Following discussions, a credit submission was completed on 21 Jan 2021 and a Letter of Offer was presented to the Directors on 5th Feb. Client appreciated BBF for being proactive and agile.
In less than a week, the client advised Acceptance of the Offer and on 17 Feb 2021, the CEO, Thierry CHARRAS-GILLOT with Rajesh and Bharat visited client and met with all the Directors. BRED Bank Letter of Offer for new facilities totaling $40M was signed followed by a lunch with all the Directors.
To date this is the largest, single transaction loan deal, making history for BRED Bank Fiji. The Relationship Manager, Bharat attributes this success to team work. A great support from executive team in Fiji; Deputy CEO & Head of Business Development Rajesh Kumar helped in driving the deal, Head of Credit Fiji- Inus Khan assisted with credit submissions and CEO, Thierry provided much needed support including presentation of the file to BRED Paris Credit Committee.
Bharat also attributed the success to Ms. Isabelle Saintier from BRED Paris who had visited the Punjas facilities in May 2018, her contribution helped in profiling the client to the executives in Paris.
“The success of getting this business is attributed to a collective team effort. It starts with maintaining good relationship with client by BBF management team and overall BRED team in lifting BRED Bank brand in the market.” said Bharat.
This deal is a testament that BRED Bank Fiji has grown to be a serious brand in Fiji and this is one of the reasons for our success in getting new valuable corporate deals including renowned brand Punjas.