July 7 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday that together with Raiffeisen Bank it is arranging a syndicated loan of 37.55 million euro ($44 million) to Romanian online retailer eMAG for a new logistics centre.
The loan is part of a larger package of 73.4 million euro aimed to finance the development of the company’s second state-of-the-art logistic center as well as the hi-tech automation equipment to be installed, the EBRD said in a press release.
"To fulfil our mission, we are always looking for ways to serve our customers ever more reliably, faster and cheaper, with an ever increasing range of products. This sizeable investment, close to 100 million euro, will enable just that," eMAG CEO Tudor Manea said.
The investment will enable eMAG’s commercial expansion increase capacity of its fulfilment services while indirectly supporting SMEs’ to expand their business and improve their operations by leveraging eMAG’s marketplace platform, which reaches millions of customers in the CEE region, according to the EBRD.
"By strengthening its logistics services, eMAG will not only increase its own logistics capacity but will also facilitate a faster development of local SMEs as it allows them to reach customers and markets not accessible before and in a more cost efficient way," EBRD Director for telecommunications, media and technology Dirk Werner said.
eMAG was founded in 2001 by Romanian entrepreneurs and later expanded in Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland.
($= 0.8454 euro)
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