October 8 (SeeNews) - Romania's state-controlled postal services operator Posta Romana said on Thursday it signed a 200 million lei ($48 million/43 million euro) loan agreement with state-owned Eximbank in order to finance a large-scale investment programme.
The investment programme aims to strengthen and maintain the company's leading position on the Romanian postal services market, Posta Romana said in a press release.
The programme is based on the recommendations of Deloitte, according to which, investments are needed in postal infrastructure, in digitization and modernization, as well as in the human resources area in order to achieve business goals.
Proceeds of the loan which has a tenor of 12 years will be used to improve automation of logistics processes by setting up new transit and sorting centers in Bucharest and Cluj, as well as to create and implement an integrated digital management system architecture.
In addition, the loan will be used to finance the rehabilitation of buildings in Timisoara, Piatra Neamt, Oradea and Cluj, which have the status of historical monuments and are owned by the postal operator.
"We begin an unprecedented stage - an extensive modernization process, which the Posta Romana has not had since the inter-war period, through which we will bring the company to specific international standards," Posta Romana general director Horia Grigorescu said.
"We are in talks with he World Bank, the European Commission and with the ministry of EU funds to obtain financing that will continue the investments started with this loan from EximBank, so that, in the long run, we will become a significant competitor on the profile market," Grigorescu said.
EximBank was chosen following a competitive procedure in which several banks participated, Posta Romana said.
The Romanian state owns 93.52% of Posta Romana, with the remainder is held by local property restitution fund Fondul Proprietatea.
Posta Romana has the largest distribution network at the national level, employing 24,000 people at 5,500 units. Over 19 million people benefit from its services and more than 7.5 million addresses are covered by the company's own postal network.
In 2018, Posta Romana received a 170 million lei capital injection from the government to repay overdue debt to the state.
In September 2015, the government failed to sell Posta Romana as the Belgian postal services operator bpost, which was the only investor that had shown interest in the privatisation process, did not submit a binding bid for a 51% stake in the company by the specified deadline.
(1 euro=4.8741 lei)