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Poland’s Cersanit expands into Ukraine
€ 80.8 million EBRD loan to establish new production facilities
The EBRD is providing a €80.8 million loan to Cersanit Invest, a wholly owned
Ukrainian subsidiary of the Cersanit Group, the largest Polish manufacturer
and distributor of bathroom fittings and ceramic tiles. Loan proceeds will be
used to finance the establishment of green-field production facilities of
sanitary ware and ceramic tiles in Novograd Volinskiy, in Zhytomyr region of
Ukraine. The Loan will comprise an “A Loan” of €40.4 million for the Bank’s
own account, and a “B Loan” of €40.4 million which will be syndicated to
commercial banks.
It is expected that a new plant, once put into operation, will be producing
around 1 million units of sanitary ware and around 7 million square metres of
ceramic tiles every year. A manufacturing facility in Ukraine will
significantly strengthen Cersanit’s market presence in the country and
increase competition in the sector.
Currently almost 52 per cent of tiles and 25 percent of sanitary ware in
Ukraine are imported. Local production will substitute the supply of Cersanit
products from its plants in Poland and satisfy the increasing demand for
sanitary ware in Ukraine. This expansion will help Cersanit match an expected
healthy growth in the domestic sanitary ware and tiles markets as Ukraine’s
economy develops further.
The transfer of skills and know-how to the local building materials sector
should have a strong demonstration effect in the central Ukraine region which
is suffering from unemployment and a lack of investment, said EBRD Director
for Ukraine Kamen Zahariev.
According to Dragica Pilipovic-Chaffey, EBRD Director for Poland and Baltic
States, the Cersanit Invest project will support the cross border expansion of
the dynamic Polish company to Ukraine, where it has been successfully
exporting its products in the recent years. “We hope that the project will be
one of many investments in Ukraine by Polish companies and its success may
lead to increased Polish investments in this country and the region”, she
said.
In November 2006, the Bank signed a EUR 40 million loan with Poland-based
Barlinek, a manufacturer of wooden floors, establishing the production
facility in the Ukrainian Vinnytsia.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the biggest financial
investor in Ukraine. As of January 2007 it had committed €2.87 billion through
more than 130 projects.
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