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EBRD supports Barlinek in Ukraine move
Leading Polish floor board producer to start production in central Ukraine
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is providing a €38.9
million financing package to Barlinek Invest, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Barlinek SA, the largest wooden floor board manufacturer in Poland. The loan
will be used to launch a greenfield production facility with an annual
capacity of two million square metres of floor board in Vinnytsia, central
Ukraine. Part of the loan will be syndicated to commercial banks.
Barlinek Invest will be offering its products to the Russian and Ukrainian
construction material markets, which are currently expanding by around 20 per
cent a year. At present Russia and Ukraine are importing virtually all quality
wooden flooring required for this fast-growing market. This project will help
Barlinek Invest expand and strengthen its presence in Ukraine and Russia over
the next three to four years.
Olivier Descamps, Business Group Director for southern and eastern Europe,
says the project follows the EBRD strategy both for Ukraine, to encourage
greater foreign direct investment, and for Poland, to promote cross-border
expansion in the local private sector. Barlinek SA is also planning to achieve
ISO certification in Ukraine and apply the same high-quality control system
used in its Polish operations, he added.
The new plant also achieves an important environmental objective: it will
produce 20,000 tonnes per annum of clean–burning bio-fuel made from waste from
the floorboard production process.
The EBRD is the single largest financial investor in Ukraine, having committed
to date over EUR 2.4 billion across all sectors in the country.
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