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EUR32 million to buy, refurbish fuel stations in Bulgaria
EBRD loan helps boost competition, improves industry standards
New and refurbished petrol and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) stations will soon line the streets and highways of Bulgaria with the help of a €32 million financing package from the EBRD to Opet Aygaz Bulgaria (OAB), the Turkish-owned fuel distribution company. The Bank will directly lend €20 million, for its own account, and €12 million will be syndicated to a number of commercial banks.
The eight-year loan is expected to benefit thousands of traffic users, including citizens, tourists and business people, from a project that promises to boost competition in the country’s fuel distribution sector. The loan will also help the company set up a business to provide refined products to commercial and industrial customers, and to invest in logistical and storage facilities.
Kevin Bortz, Director for Natural Resources at the EBRD, said the project is important because it is the first time the EBRD has provided a loan directly to an operator of retail petrol stations. Mr Bortz added that by expanding in Bulgaria, OAB is increasing competition and promoting good industry standards within the fuel distribution sector. It is these kinds of market economy-based principles that support transition, and we hope to work with the company on future projects, he added.
Established in June 2003, OAB is owned by two Turkish companies: Opet, which is one of the leading fuel distribution companies in Turkey, with more than 1,100 petrol stations, and Aygaz, the leading Liquid Petroleum Gas company in Turkey, and the fourth-largest in the world. Both are owned by the Koc Group, Turkey’s largest conglomerate.
Jean Keup, General Manager of OAB, said the project is the first international joint venture investment of Aygaz and Opet. He added that, the financing package is to fund investments in petrol retail sites and logistics and OAB is delighted to be working with EBRD on this project.
The EBRD is the largest investor in Bulgaria with more than €848 million invested in 58 projects, and has helped mobilise a total of €3.2 billion by working with other investors.
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