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EBRD chips in for new wood processing plant in Romania
€127 million package supports Austria’s Egger Group expansion
The EBRD is providing €127 million to help finance the expansion of one of
Europe’s leading producers of wood-based materials into Romania.
Austrian company Egger Osteuropa Beteiligungs GmbH will use a €110 million
EBRD loan, a portion of which will be syndicated to commercial banks, to build
a new plant - Egger Romania SRL - in Suceava County, in north-east Romania.
The Bank is also paying €17 million for a stake in the new company. With
overall costs of €210 million, the project is a substantial new foreign
investment for Romania.
Hildegard Gacek, EBRD country Director for Romania, said this is an important
project supporting private foreign investment into Romania, and it sends a
strong signal of the possibilities of doing business in the country, which is
preparing for accession to the European Union.
The new plant also has strong economic benefits. It is especially important at
the local level around Suceava County, where it is expected to secure direct,
long-term employment for up to 700 people. It will also bring a multiple of
indirect employment and will support the local economy by sourcing materials
from local suppliers, in particular wood residues from sawmills and using many
different service providers for areas such as transportation and logistics as
well as sub-contractors for various services and manufacturing purposes.
Established in 1960, Egger has its headquarters in St Johann in Tirol, in
Western Austria, and specialises in producing wood-based panel such as
high-quality particle boards, medium density fibreboards (MDF) and oriented
strand board (OSB), which through lamination and other forms of processing,
may be converted into flooring or furniture.
Michael Egger, CEO of the Egger group, said the EBRD’s financing will support
the construction of Egger Romania SRL’s green-field plant, which will annually
produce up to 600,000 cubic meters of particleboard, widely used in furniture
manufacturing, construction and retail. Of that total, 550,000 will be covered
by melamine décor paper, while 50,000 will be without the melamine layer. The
plant will have state-of-the-art production technology that will also be
environmentally friendly, said Mr Egger.
The EBRD is Romania’s largest single investor, having committed more than €2.8
billion in over 150 projects.
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