Financing agreement worth 200 mln euro between CEO and EBRD

Oltenia Energy Complex (CEO) today signed a financing agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development meant to facilitate the refurbishment of the unit 6 of the Turceni thermal power station, Agerpres informs.

The 200 million euro arrangement has been eventually concluded, without any state guarantees, after negotiations which lasted about a year and according to Laurentiu Ciurel, CEO’s General Manager, the investment period is of four years.

He further explained during a press conference, quoted by the same press agency, that the projected investment is compulsory for complying with the EU environment regulations. In that respect, Ciurel outlined that the energy complex has also run a consistent investment program over the past four years, investment amounting to some 540 million euro.

On the other hand, EBRD announced in November, last year, that plans to invest up to 600 million euro in Romania in 2014. Romania is the EBRD’s fourth-largest recipient of funds after Russia, Poland and Ukraine benefitting from loans worth EUR3 billion over the last five years, loans meant to support the transformation from a former-communist state to a market-driven democracy, according to James Hyslop, the bank’s Country Manager for Romania, whose statement was published by Govnet.

The London-based lender which is owned by 64 countries and two intergovernmental institutions – the EU and the European Investment Bank, is the largest financial investor in countries from central Europe to central Asia and the southern and eastern Mediterranean aiming to help them to become open, market economies.