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EBRD helps leading Croatian glass container producer
Expansion will meet growing regional demand from beverage and food industry
Croatian glass container maker Vetropack Straza d.d. today received a €12.5 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a deal that will help the company to expand its production of bottles, jars and other glass containers for food and drinks.
The EBRD loan will finance the continued expansion and regular repair of the furnaces and equipment used to make glass containers. Vetropack is the leading supplier of glass containers across south-eastern Europe.
Hans Christian Jacobsen, Director of the EBRD's Agribusiness team, said the financing would have a positive impact across the region because the beverage and food industry in south-eastern Europe is growing and demand for the kind of glass containers produced by Vetropack is increasing. Vetropack has a good reputation as a well-run company and supplies EBRD clients in the region.
The loan will be used to finance the reconstruction of the flint glass furnace, including the production lines as well as the control and packaging equipment. With this reconstruction, flint glass production is expected to increase by 70 per cent. Dragutin Špiljak, Managing Director of Vetropack Stra?a, said the technology would ensure higher product quality with lower energy consumption in the glass melting process. Gas emissions will be reduced and work conditions improved. "This project will not only guarantee long-term supply of container glass to the market, but also the quality and design which will meet the needs and requirements of our customers," he said.
Vetropack Straza d.d. is part of the international Vetropack Group, a glass-packaging producer with sites in Switzerland, where it is based, Austria and the Czech Republic. Claude R Cornaz, CEO of Vetropack Group, said the investment demonstrates Vetropack's continued commitment to eastern Europe, which constitutes a growth region for the group. The Croatian facility currently produces more than 130,000 tons of glass containers per year. The glass comes in standard colours of flint, green and amber, but Vetropack also specialises in the production of particular colours including olive and cuvée.
This project brings the number of EBRD investments in the food processing, packaging and retail sector to more than 146, worth a total of more than €2.4 billion.
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