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Banking on bricks: EUR50 million facility for Wienerberger
A year after providing finance to help Austria’s Wienerberger AG crack the
Romanian market, the EBRD is setting up a new, €50 million multi-project
facility that will enable the world’s largest producer of bricks to expand
further in the Bank’s countries of operations.
The package – with the flexibility to provide debt or portage equity – will
help Wienerberger build or acquire plants in south-eastern Europe, Russia and
other former Soviet countries.
The idea behind this facility is clear, said Olivier Descamps, Business Group
Director for South-Eastern Europe at the EBRD. On one hand, Wienerberger, a
successful western company, is keen to expand in Eastern Europe and the CIS.
On the other hand, the EBRD is promoting private-sector growth across this
region. By cooperating, we are promoting jobs and foreign investment in these
countries, Mr Descamps said.
In the first sub-project under the facility, the EBRD is lending €4 million
and providing €1.6 million in portage equity to Wienerberger Sisteme Caramizi
Romania, a subsidiary of the Austrian parent, the acquisition and
modernisation of a brick-production plant in Sibiu, central Romania. The
project will strengthen Wienerberger’s presence in the country and builds on
its good relationship with the EBRD. In 2003 the Bank paid €2 million for a
minority stake in Wienerberger Sisteme Caramizi for the construction of a
state-of the art greenfield brick plant just north of Bucharest. That
transaction was the business’s springboard into the Romanian market.
Hans Tschuden, Chief Financial Officer of Wienerberger, said: “The EBRD is a
valuable partner for us in pursuing our expansion strategy in Eastern Europe.
After our successful greenfield-project in Romania we want to build our
cooperation with the EBRD for new countries further east. We appreciate their
contacts to local authorities as well as their support in financing our
profitable growth projects in Eastern Europe.”
Wienerberger is the world's largest producer of bricks and Europe’s second
largest in the roofing market. The Group also holds leading positions in pipes
and pavers in Europe, with 235 plants in 24 countries. Wienerberger has 13,000
employees and should generate revenues of around €1.8 billion in 2004.
The EBRD is the largest investor in Romania, having committed more than €2.5
billion in some 125 projects in various sectors across the country.
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