April 11 (SeeNews) - The International Investment Bank (IIB) said it has granted a loan to Moldovan agro-industrial group Trans-Oil to finance the acquisition of Romanian vegetable oil producer Ultex.
The loan, whose value was not disclosed, will be used for the development and technical upgrade of Ultex's vegetable oil plant, which has strong export potential, as well as for financing its operating needs, including the acquisition of raw materials, IIB said in a statement on Monday.
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Ultex owns a vegetable oil plant in Tandarei, southeastern Romania, which Trans-Oil aims to bring back to full-scale operational cycle.
This investment will have a positive impact on the economic situation in the region and give a new impetus to further active growth of the Romanian economy, IIB said.
In March, Fitch Ratings said it has assigned Trans-Oil a first-time expected long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings (IDRs) of 'B(EXP)' with a stable outlook.
Trans Oil is the largest buyer and exporter of cereals and oilseeds in Moldova. The group operates 16 storage facilities across the country capable of storing more than 750,000 tonnes simultaneously, two vegetable oil-extraction factories (in Balti and Ceadir-Lunga) with daily production capacity of 1,200 tonnes and 400 tonnes, respectively. It also owns two grain terminals and a terminal for sunflower oil in the International Free Port of Giurgiulesti, as well as a number of agricultural, transport and infrastructure enterprises.
Romania is one of the most active IIB member states, it has the fifth largest share in the Bank’s paid-in capital (7.92%) and the volume of Romanian projects in the loan and investment portfolio is steadily growing and now stands at 11%, approaching 100 million euro, the IIB said. The bank currently has in the pipeline four more deals totalling about 40 million euro, which include investments in the modernization of production infrastructure and support of the SME sector in Romania.
($ = 0.8599 euro)