Croatia’s Hrvatske Autoceste Seeks up to 180 Mln Euro in New Loans To Shore Up Liquidity - Media

In the tender, which expires on October 19, HAC is seeking to arrange one loan worth 80 million euro and a second one totalling 100 million euro, online business news portal Bankamagazine (www.banka.hr) reported, not naming its source.

The company was advised by prospective lenders to split up the target loan amount, the news portal said. 

The information that HAC is looking to secure loan financing was confirmed for Bankamagazine by Nikola Blagajic, a member of the company's Supervisory Board.

A source close to the HAC management told Bankamagazine that at least four banks have so far joined the tender.

At the same time, HAC is also in the initial stages of loan negotiations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank, Bankmagazine said.

The liquidity-strained HAC was recently forced to take out a 100 million euro short-term loan from JP Morgan. The facility has a a five-year maturity and an interest rate of around 9.0%, Bankamagazine said.

HAC (www.hac.hr), established in 2001, broke even in 2008 on total revenues of 1.4 billion kuna ($283 million/192 million euro).

(1 euro=7.2568 Croatian kuna)