|
Privatised Hungarian printer launches investment programme with EBRD finance
A DM 11.7 million (ECU 6.24 million) financing package, provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), will enable Szikra Lapnyomda Rt., Hungary's largest and recently privatised newspaper printer, to improve its colour printing facilities and increase productivity. Part of the package is a HUF 410 million equity investment, giving the EBRD 19.2 per cent of the company.
"With the privatisation process completed, the EBRD is bridging the funding gap between the implementation of Szikra's restructuring plans and the point when the company can attract financing from other investors, including the stock market," said Peter Reiniger, Director of the EBRD's Hungary team.
Dr. Ákos Erdös, Chairman of Szikra, commented: "We are already feeling the positive effects of a restructuring programme implemented after privatisation in late 1995. With this new investment programme, which should be on-line by the end of 1998, we will be able to offer our customers the most sophisticated printing capacity available in Hungary."
In conjunction with the EBRD's investment, the two principal shareholders, Láng Kiadó & Holding Rt., a local entrepreneurial company, and Postabank és Takarékpénztár Rt., one of Hungary's largest banks, will each make a further equity investment of DM 2 million, giving them each 32.4 per cent of the company.
The proceeds of the loan and equity subscriptions will be used to purchase three colour presses which will increase the flexibility and extent of colour use in newspapers printed by Szikra, particularly Népszabadsag, a leading Hungarian daily. The company has also launched an overall restructuring programme to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Based in Budapest, Szikra's core business is the production of offset printing products, particularly daily newspapers and periodicals. In 1995 it produced 30,400 tons of printed materials generating approximately DM 68 million in revenue. Other shareholders are the privatisation authority, APV Rt., and the company's employees.
|
