February 25 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a 7 million euro ($7.6 million) loan to back the growth of Slovenian holding company Istrabenz in Serbia, it said.
Serbia-based Istrabenz Plini Beograd will use the funds to build a filling station in Simanovci, 35 km north-west of Belgrade, which will allow the company to fill gas cylinders with industrial gases instead of purchasing filled industrial gas cylinders from its parent company in Slovenia, the EBRD said in a statement on Monday.
The investment will allow the company to meet higher demand by its industrial and retail customers in Serbia and potentially neighbouring countries but will also help improve efficiency and reduce costs by replacing the transportation of heavy, filled cylinders over long distances by the transportation of lighter gases in bulk, the EBRD said.
Istrabenz is ultimately owned by SIAD SpA, an Italian industrial gas producer with operations in the Western Balkans and in Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
"We are delighted to support the expansion of SIAD Group in the Serbian market and look forward to continuing to support its growth in eastern European markets," Charlotte Ruhe, EBRD Managing Director, Central and South Eastern Europe, said.
The company opened a new air separation plant in Hungary in 2019, and is considering other investments in the region including an industrial gas separation plant in Croatia and a further presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"We are grateful to the EBRD for its financial support to our initiative; support that makes our investments safer and our industrial development strategies more sustainable," Bernardo Sestini, CEO of SIAD, said.
The EBRD has invested more than 5.7 billion euro across 263 projects in Serbia so far. Last year, the bank achieved a record result in Serbia with 507 million euro new commitments.
($ = 0.92135 euro)