PARIS — Due to the difficult economic environment, Italian trade show organizer Sogecos recently inked a deal with its parent company, BolognaFiere Group, as well as UniCredit Bank and UniCredit Corporate Banking to provide short-term loans for Italian exhibitors taking part in Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna and Cosmopack Bologna.
Each loan can run up to 500,000 euros, or $740,997 at current exchange, provides variable-term rates and is repayable for up to 12 months.
“In 2010, people have a lower level of cash,” said Aureliana De Sanctis, Sogecos’ chief executive officer, adding the idea is to allow “companies to have cash as soon as possible in the bank.”
That’s key, since in order to rent a space in a fair like Cosmoprof, exhibitors must pay a deposit about one year in advance.