The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a syndicate of international commercial banks will lend 80 million euros ($113.13 million) to Serbia’s leading agribusiness operator to expand output and save energy.
The lending, split in half between the EBRD and foreign commercial lenders, will help MK Group and “its trading arm MK Commerce to build up their farming operations,” the EBRD said in an e-mail today, without naming partner banks.
Of the total, 10 million euros will finance “an equipment upgrade” at Sunoko d.o.o., a local sugar producer controlled by MK Group and member of Germany’s Nordzucker Gmbh & Co KG, resulting in lower carbon-dioxide emissions and thermal consumption, it added.
Agriculture accounts for one fifth of the Serbian economic output and the EBRD’s loan to MK Group marks an effort to ease liquidity problems the sector shared with other industries as the Balkan nation strives to recover from a slowing economy triggered by global recession.
“The investment will provide MK Group with a stable financing platform and funds for energy efficiency measures. The project will also contribute to greater productivity in the Serbian farming sector, enhancing competition and setting higher environmental standards,” the statement said, citing Gilles Mettetal, the EBRD’s Director for Agribusiness.
Source bloomberg.com
