December 14 (SeeNews) - The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's investment arm, said that it is providing a financing package of 441 million euro ($481 million) to Dutch-based developer and manager of industrial and logistics real estate CTP N.V. to help it decarbonise its operations in Bulgaria and Poland.
As part of the senior unsecured package, arranged via a sustainable financing instrument, IFC will provide a 225 million euro senior loan, the World Bank investment vehicle said in a press release on Thursday. The package is complemented by a syndicated senior loan of 135 million euro under IFC's B Loan programme as well as a 46 million euro senior loan under the Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Programme (MCPP), an IFC-administered syndications platform for institutional investors.
In addition, state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has provided a loan of 35 million euro.
The funds will help CTP strengthen supply chain resilience in the two target markets by meeting the rising demand for manufacturing, warehousing and logistics facilities in the region while investing in low-carbon construction, energy-efficient upgrades and retrofitting existing building stocks. This demand for new industrial and logistics real estate is being driven by nearshoring, a trend for companies to relocate activities closer to domestic markets, and by the growing influence of e-commerce, IFC said.
Decarbonising the real estate sector in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is one of IFC's strategic priorities, according to the statement. Through its Green Europe Project platform launched in 2022, IFC will also help CTP identify, manage and disclose building resilience risks using IFC's Building Resilience Index.
According to the World Bank investment entity, the EU buildings sector accounts for around 40% of energy consumption and 36% of carbon emissions overall.
Apart from Western Europe, CTP has operations in Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.
In Bulgaria, CTP owns four business parks in Sofia and Plovdiv, with total lettable area of 2,500 sq m. The company is close to opening its first warehouse building within CTPark Sofia East and has agreed a deal to lease some 4,000 sq m to courier company SameDay, which services Romanian e-commerce platform Emag, CTP said in a social media post earlier this week.
In 2022, CTP said it will invest 150 million euro in Bulgaria over the next two years for the construction and acquisition of over 200,000 sq m of warehouse and logistics facilities.
($ = 0.9168 euro)