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EBRD to finance first international-standard industrial park in Poland
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) today signed a US$ 7.8 million (ECU 6.1 million) loan agreement to finance construction of the first phase of the Warsaw Distribution Center (WDC) in Warsaw, Poland. WDC is the first industrial park designed to international standards to be developed in Poland, and represents an important step in Warsaw's development as an international distribution centre.
The project is being developed by an international partnership of American, Japanese and British business interests and capital - including sponsors Mitsubishi Corporation (UK) and The Kontrabecki Group, a real estate developer based in California's Silicon Valley. The loan, to be funded by EBRD and Austria's Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich, will be extended to Warsaw Distribution Park Sp. z o.o. (WDP), a Polish limited liability company.
"The influx of foreign companies into Warsaw and other eastern European cities in recent years requires the development of modern business facilities, particularly state-of-the-art warehousing and distribution space." said Ron Freeman, First Vice President of the EBRD. "Through this project EBRD continues its leadership role in infrastructure financing in eastern Europe," he added.
John Kontrabecki, managing partner of The Kontrabecki Group and chairman of WDP, observed that: "the consumer product distribution systems developed during the era of communist rule in central and eastern Europe are ill-equipped to handle the requirements of the rapidly evolving, market-oriented economies in the region."
Tsukeaki Kaku, chairman and managing director of Mitsubishi Corporation (UK), explained that "a modern distribution centre will lower storage, handling and distribution costs and substantially increase efficiency in the distribution system in the region."
The first phase of the project will comprise 22,000 square metres in four buildings, with an estimated total project cost of US$ 13 million. Construction on the first building began in October, 1994 and is scheduled for completion in June of this year. WDC is located near Warsaw's Okecie International Airport, and is ultimately expected to total 55,000 to 65,000 square metres in 10 to12 buildings.
Other investors in the project include The Poland Investment Fund L.P., The Advent Private Equity - Central Europe L.P. and JAIDO, Japan International Development Organisation, which has invested with the EBRD on three previous occasions.
EBRD was established in 1991 to assist in the transformation process in central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. As of the 28 February 1995, the Bank has committed ECU 4.4 billion in total investment to the region, including ECU 600 million to Poland.
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