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EBRD strengthens Slovenia's textile industry
Lending further support to the expansion of Slovenia’s textile industry, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide a syndicated €15 million loan to the yarn producer Yulon, with the participation of Bank Austria Aktiengesellschaft. The seven-year loan will enable Yulon to increase its spinning capacity and invest in a new twisting and heat-setting plant located in one of the less developed regions of Slovenia.
"The EBRD and participating banks have already supported two large investment projects in Yulon, and this investment will bring total debt and equity financing commitments to Yulon to €42 million since 1995. Combined with the knowledge and technology brought by the Italian strategic investor Bonazzi, a fast-growing Italian group, the investments are key to Yulon's success," said Alain Pilloux, the EBRD’s Business Group Director for Central Europe. "With the modern spinning line - one of the first of its kind in Europe - Yulon will maintain its position as the strongest technology and know-how importer in Slovenia's textile sector."
Mr Pilloux added: "We hope that Yulon's good experience with a foreign sponsor will show the way for the rest of Slovenia’s textile industry, which faces an increasingly difficult business environment with the further withdrawal of governmental subsidies."
Yulon was established in 1966 on the outskirts of the capital, Ljubljana, to produce nylon yarns mainly for the local textile and carpet markets. Following the break-up of former Yugoslavia, it shifted its sales focus to west European markets - principally Italy and the Benelux countries. After privatisation in 1995, when it was acquired by Bonazzi, Yulon was successfully transformed from near bankruptcy into the most efficient Slovenian textile producer.
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