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Kazakhstan’s Derbes brewery attracts EBRD loan
€40 million financing to expand production and launch new products
The EBRD is providing a loan of €40 million to TOO Derbes Brewery, one of the
leading breweries in Kazakhstan. Up to €20 million of the total loan amount
will be syndicated to Austria’s Raiffeisen Zentralbank.
The financing, which will be disbursed in US dollars, will be used for the
expansion of the company through upgrades of the Derbes plant and the
introduction of new products and brands. Upon completion the planned
investments will lead to an increase of total production capacity to 5 million
hectolitres of beer from current 2 million hectolitres.
Derbes is owned by Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH), a joint venture between
Carlsberg and Scottish & Newcastle. The EBRD’s loan is the result of a long
term regional cooperation between BBH and the Bank. The first joint project
was an investment in Ukraine in 1999 which served as a springboard for a
lasting partnership.
Gilles Mettetal, EBRD Director for Agribusiness, said the Bank is strongly
supporting foreign investment in Kazakhstan’s agribusiness sector and the
government’s strategy on diversification of the economy to non-oil and non-gas
sectors. BBH is one of the leading international investors in the region and
the EBRD is pleased to continue the successful cooperation with the company,
he added.
Eduard Babayan, President of Derbes Brewery, said the project represents a
further stage of our co-operation with the EBRD and will allow for the
expansion of production capacities and the improvement of the technological
processes.
In the agribusiness sector alone, the EBRD has committed €4.4 billion in 315
projects across central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent
States to-date.
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