|
EBRD and RZB support hypermarket growth in Romania
€50 million loan helps Louis Delhaize regional expansion
French-Belgian food-retailer Louis Delhaize is expanding its Cora hypermarkets
chain in central and eastern Europe with the help of a €50 million loan from
the EBRD, the region’s largest investor, and Raiffeisen Zentralbank
Oesterreich AG (RZB), Austria’s third-largest bank. The deal comes just seven
months after the company borrowed €160 million from both institutions to
further expand Cora hypermarkets in Hungary.
The latest loan, of which the EBRD will take up to €40 million on its own
books, and RZB €10 million, will help Louis Delhaize build five new Cora
hypermarkets across Romania. Just last year the company opened its first store
in Bucharest, the capital. Future plans include two additional stores in the
city, and two further stores beyond the capital, in a project with an
estimated cost of €140 million.
Jean Lemierre, President of the EBRD, said at the signing of the loan in
London that there is a clear commitment by Louis Delhaize to expand in this
region. By doing so, Mr Lemierre said the company is providing local citizens
with a wider range of products that are higher in quality and lower in prices.
The project should benefit not only consumers but also local suppliers, who
will provide the hypermarket with locally produced goods. The EBRD supports
companies like this because their commitment benefits people and the economies
of the region, Mr Lemierre added.
Established in 1908, the Louis Delhaize Group opened its first Cora
hypermarket in 1974. It manages around 1000 outlets in six countries including
Belgium, Luxembourg, France, the French West Indies and Hungary under the
Cora, Match, Profi and Comax brands. Vincent Descours, CFO of Louis Delhaize,
said the loan enables the company to accelerate its expansion of hypermarkets
in central and eastern Europe, and provides difficult-to-obtain
longer-maturity finance for the expansion. The EBRD can provide such debt even
in more difficult markets, and can also mobilise commercial funding, both
important for the Louis Delhaize Group, he added.
Karl Sevelda, RZB Board Member in charge of Austrian and Multinational
Corporate Customers, said the financing is with two important partners for
RZB. “We already have close cooperation with Cora in Romania through our
subsidiary there, and we are pleased to work alongside the EBRD once again,
underscoring our position as a bank with the second-largest portfolio of
transactions co-financed with the EBRD,” he said. “This deal is another
indication of RZB's commitment to the region in general and its importance for
the region's industry specifically.”
|
