October 25 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Tuesday that it plans to provide a loan in Romanian lei worth the equivalent of up to 49 million euro ($48 million) to Distributie Energie Electrica Romania (DEER).
The loan will be guaranteed by Societatea Energetica Electrica [BSE:EL] which owns 100% of the shares of DEER, the EBRD said in a project summary document.
The loan will finance DEER's liquidity needs to cover the increased cost of electricity purchases required for network losses and will enable it to continue the distribution of electricity to Romanian consumers without interruptions.
The financing will also allow the company to move on with investments in the electricity grid in order to cope with integration of additional renewables generation.
The approval date for the loan is set for November 15, according to the document.
DEER's core business segments are distribution of electricity to residential and industrial consumers in the geographical area of Northern Muntenia, Northern Transylvania and Southern Transylvania in Romania.
Electrica's shares were changing hands 0.15% lower at 6.66 lei ($1.33/ 1.36 euro) on Tuesday on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
(1 euro=4.9038 lei)