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US$ 113 million financing package for Polish energy sector
The Polish energy sector is set to receive US$ 113 million as part of a financing package signed with a group of international banks. The package, which will support an extensive investment programme for the Polish Power Grid Company, has been arranged by the Austrian bank Creditanstalt-Bankverein and co-arranged by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The package has been structured in two tranches: the EBRD is funding one 10 year tranche of US$38 million while the other, funded by a syndicate of commercial banks, is for five years.
Stanislaw Porêba, Member of the Board at the Polish Power Grid Company, said: "The funding needs of the modernisation and investment programme in the power sector are enormous. This financing taps new resources, by attracting international banks without any accompanying direct guarantees under the Polish government budget."
"With this path-breaking transaction," continued Edgar Rosenmayr, Head of International Project and Acquisition Finance at Creditanstalt, "the Polish Power Grid Company has successfully stretched the capacity of the market, a precedent that may now be used for other innovative financings on commercial terms in this sector."
Charles Wrangham, Director of the Poland Team at the EBRD, said: "We are pleased to have shown that the Bank is willing to join a commercial bank-led deal, providing a long-term tranche, and by playing a co-lead role in the structuring, to have added to its market appeal."
The proceeds will be used for high priority projects aimed at upgrading and extending the transmission system as well as modernising the monitoring and dispatch systems. The EBRD's funds will help finance the completion of a fluidised-bed boiler combined heat and power plant near Bielsko-Bia³a (south-west Poland) which will allow the operating company, Zespó³ Electrociep³owni Bielsko-Bia³a S.A., to increase low-cost power generation and improve its environmental performance. This is the first financing which has been finalised in Poland for a fluidised-bed boiler, an advanced technology which significantly reduces emissions but is not yet utilised in Poland's heavily coal-intensive energy generation sector.
Members of the banking syndicate besides Creditanstalt and the EBRD are: ING Bank N.V., Dresdner Bank Luxembourg S.A., Centro Bank, Österrerichische Volksbanken AG, Bank Austria, Giro Credit, RZB, First Austrian Bank and Österreichische Investkredit AG.
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