http://www.ebrd.com/new/ Press releases about EBRD news and events. en-gb Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:16:02 +0100 The EBRD has named Andre Kuusvek as the Bank’s Director for Ukraine. Mr. Kuusvek, who previously held the position of EBRD Country Director for Kazakhstan, is replacing Kamen Zahariev, who has been appointed Director of Corporate Recovery at the EBRD’s headquarters in London and who had been Director for Ukraine since 2002. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080905.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080905.htm 05/09/2008 Ukraine Corporate information The German Ministry of Environment is supporting the EBRD Sustainable Energy Initiative for Kazakhstan with the provision of €2 million to assist the launch of the Sustainable Energy Finance Facility. Under the programme loans are being granted to private local banks for on-lending to enterprises for much-needed energy efficiency investments. The €50 million-initiative also finances investments in renewable energy projects in the industrial sector. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080903b.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080903b.htm 03/09/2008 Kazakhstan Energy efficiency The EBRD is extending another €3 million loan to Mikrokreditna Fondacija MI-BOSPO, one of the leading microfinance institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), to enable micro and small enterprises (MSEs) to gain more access to finance to start up or expand their businesses. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080903a.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080903a.htm 03/09/2008 Bosnia and Herzegovina Non-bank financial institutions The EBRD is providing a €6 million working capital loan to Bimal, Bosnia-Herzegovina’s (BiH) sole edible oil producing company, as the Bank’s first financing to a local company in the country exclusively collateralised by agricultural commodities. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080903.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080903.htm 03/09/2008 Bosnia and Herzegovina Agribusiness The EBRD is providing the city of Batumi with a €2.5 million loan for the purchase of up to 100 mid-sized buses and maintenance equipment. The acquisition is a key element of a wide-ranging plan to modernise urban transport in the capital of Georgia’s autonomous republic of Adjara. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080902a.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080902a.htm 02/09/2008 Georgia Municipal and environmental infrastructure   http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080902.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080902.htm 02/09/2008 Serbia Lending to banks The EBRD is supporting the expansion of the privately-owned Tajik telecommunications company ISP Telecom-Technology Ltd with a loan of up to US$ 2.7 million. The funds will be used to co-finance essential communications links and the modernisation and expansion of the company´s networks. ISP Telecom-Technology is working on the introduction of a new service which will combine fixed telephony with internet access. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080827a.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080827a.htm 27/08/2008 Tajikistan Telecoms and Media On 1 September EBRD President Thomas Mirow begins a three-day trip to Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, his first visit to the EBRD region as head of the Bank. The visit underscores the increasing importance the EBRD attaches to strengthening policy dialogue with the countries in the Western Balkan region and supporting their further development. The EBRD welcomes the progress the region has made in implementing key reforms and the encouraging increase in cross-border cooperation and investment that have bolstered recent growth across the Western Balkans. In Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the region, the Bank will continue to play a crucial role by investing alone and together with other foreign investors. Key targets for investment to support the development of the regional economies include transport and municipal infrastructure, energy, as well as the agribusiness and private sectors. The EBRD will continue to stimulate regional economic integration, to help make markets more competitive, to improve quality and to reduce the cost of services, which is key for integration into the broader European and global markets. During the visit to Belgrade and Sarajevo, Mr Mirow will meet senior government officials, business partners and international envoys. In Belgrade, the EBRD President will also sign a €10 million loan to RZB Leasing to finance the expansion and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in all regions of Serbia. In Sarajevo, President Mirow will sign a €3 million loan to the microcredit organization MI Bospo and a €6 million loan to a local agribusiness enterprise, Bimal. The EBRD is the largest institutional investor in the region, having invested more than €4.9 billion in sectors including infrastructure, energy, the financial sector and the private corporate sector, especially small and medium size enterprises. The Bank signed its first project in Serbia in 2001 and has to date invested almost €1.3 billion in 105 projects in the country. In Bosnia-Herzegovina total investments are €762 million in 69 projects. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080827.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080827.htm 27/08/2008 Serbia Corporate information The EBRD is providing €40 million loan to Viro Tvornica Secera, Croatia’s leading sugar producer to help the company improve its operations by cutting costs and introducing energy efficiency measures, making it more competitive on the local and EU markets. Part of the loan may be used to consolidate Viro’s operations by acquiring a state-owned sugar refinery. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080822.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080822.htm 22/08/2008 Croatia Agribusiness The Multilateral Carbon Credit Fund (MCCF) is expanding its activities to Armenia: Ani Hydro Corporation OJSC and Stichting Carbon Purchase Intermediary (CPI) have signed an emission reduction purchase agreement (ERPA) for the sale and purchase of certified emission reductions to be generated by the Jradzor Small Hydroelectric Project in Akhuryan in western Armenia. Stichting CPI is the special purpose vehicle created to acquire carbon credits for the participants in the MCCF. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080819a.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080819a.htm 19/08/2008 Armenia Corporate information Consumers in Chisinau will be able to enjoy a whole new shopping experience with the opening of Shopping Centre Mall Dova, the first large format retail and entertainment complex in Moldova. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080819.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080819.htm 19/08/2008 Moldova Property The EBRD is providing a €28.5 million loan to Kronospan UA, a wood-based panel producer located in Novovolynsk in north-western Ukraine, which is part of the Kronospan Group. Up to €12 million will be syndicated to commercial banks. Loan proceeds will be used for the construction of a medium-density fibre board (MDF) facility in Ukraine. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080818.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080818.htm 18/08/2008 Ukraine General manufacturing The EBRD is closely following the events in Georgia and urges all parties involved to reach, together with active support of the international community, a rapid resolution of the conflict. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080811.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080811.htm 11/08/2008 Georgia Corporate information The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has, through a private placement, acquired for $120 million an equity stake representing 3.8 percent of the ordinary shares of OJSC Far-Eastern Shipping Company (FESCO), Russia’s major integrated inter-modal freight transport company combining shipping, railways and port facilities. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080807.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080807.htm 07/08/2008 Russia Transport The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has provided two four-year loans totalling 1.02 billion roubles (equivalent to €27.5 million) to Sovcombank to finance micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in a transaction aimed at funding the grassroots sector of the economy in the regions of Russia. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080806.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080806.htm 06/08/2008 Russia Lending to banks The EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) has passed another milestone by issuing its first guarantee in local currency, facilitating exports of wheat flower from Russia to Tajikistan and removing currency risks on the part of the Russian exporter. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080804.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080804.htm 04/08/2008 Regional Lending to banks The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is for the first time financing primary agriculture in Russia through a medium-term local currency loan specifically aimed at giving farmers in the fertile south the means to boost production and thus help combat food price inflation. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080804a.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080804a.htm 04/08/2008 Russia Agribusiness The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a €25 million credit line to Postbank* for on-lending to Bulgarian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The loan comes under the EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility and will be complemented by grant support from the EU to include technical assistance support. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080730a.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080730a.htm 30/07/2008 Bulgaria Small business The EBRD, with the generous support of EUR 275,000 from the Canadian Technical Cooperation (TC) Fund 2006-2009, is this year facilitating trade finance consultancy services for banks in Russia and Ukraine that have recently joined the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) as issuing banks. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080730.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080730.htm 30/07/2008 Regional Products and Services The EBRD will improve the quality of the environment in Dushanbe with a loan of up to $4 million to a solid waste collection and disposal project in the Tajik capital. In addition to the EBRD loan the project will be co-financed by a $4.0 million capital grant from The Netherlands. http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080729.htm http://www.ebrd.com/new/pressrel/2008/080729.htm 29/07/2008 Tajikistan Municipal and environmental infrastructure