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EBRD to finance expansion of Slovak national oil-refiner
The Slovak Republic's oil-refiner is to expand and modernise its retail petrol service station network with the proceeds of a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed today in Bratislava. The US$ 30 million (ECU 24.2 million equivalent) loan is to Slovnaft a.s., the national petroleum and petrochemical refinery company of the Slovak Republic.
Ron Freeman, First Vice President of the EBRD, commented: "The EBRD's first project within the petroleum sector in the Slovak Republic will allow the country to compete with Western retailers entering its market, diversify its revenue base, improve customer service and meet Slovak environmental standards".
The loan, of which US$ 10 million is expected to be syndicated in due course, will provide long-term financing for Slovnaft's three-year investment programme to expand and modernise its retail gasoline service station network. Site appearance and layout will follow Western standards, with a strong Slovnaft corporate "brand" identity to promote customer familiarity and loyalty.
Slovnaft's 1993 sales of SK 25,425 million (US$ 766 million) are ranked 19th in size of those the companies in the "Visegrad" countries (Poland, Czech and Slovak Republics, and Hungary). Primary business lines include refined products, plastics and petrochemicals with a quarter of sales to the Czech Republic and 22 per cent exported to other countries. Exports outside the former CSFR grew by 53 per cent between 1992 and 1993. Slovnaft's refinery is relatively complex by Western standards and processed 4.2 million tons of crude oil in 1993.
Although presently 80 per cent state-owned through the Fund of National Property, Slovnaft is the most privatised oil-refiner in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The state's ownership will be diluted to 64.2 per cent after completion of a 20 per cent international public share offering of the company, to take the form of Global Depository Receipts to be listed in Luxembourg, expected in early 1995.
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