EBRD Lends $12 Mln to Moldovan Grain Trader Trans Oil Group

"The EBRD loan will refinance Trans Oil Group’s short term debt used for the construction of the oilseed crushing plant, as well as to support Trans Oil Group with the working capital facility for procurement of oilseed from local producers,” the lender said in a statement.

Trans Oil Group has built an oilseed crushing plant in southern Moldova and a grain export terminal in Giurgiulesti on the Danube river. The plant has an output capacity of 150,000 tonnes annually and the terminal has a storage capacity of 3,500 metric tonnes.

In addition, mirroring the EBRD loan structure, Mobiasbanca, Societe Generale’s Moldovan unit, is also lending Trans Oil Group $12 million to refinance the loan used by the company to build the grain terminal, as well as to provide working capital resources, EBRD said.

Trans Oil Group, fully-owned by Swiss grain trader Vision Holding, accounts for almost 60% on Moldova’s grain exports. It sources most of its grains from local small and medium-sized farmers and exports the grains to countries in northern Africa, Middle East, Turkey and the EU.

EBRD said it has committed more than 325 million euro ($479 million) in various sectors of the Moldovan economy so far.

($=0.6788 euro)