EBRD feeds cash into Billa

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on January 14 will analyse a project intended to finance the expansion of the Austria-based Billa Group’s subsidiaries in Romania, Ukraine and Bulgaria. The project is worth 216 million euros, 45 million of which are to come from the EBRD. The funds will be used to facilitate construction of new supermarkets over the next three or four years. The beneficiary in Romania is Billa Invest Construct SRL. The Billa chain has been operating in Romania since February 1999, when the first supermarket was dedicated in Bucharest. The Billa chain now comprises three supermarkets in Bucharest, two in Timisoara and one in Arad, Ploiesti, Constanta, Craiova and Iasi each. Billa is the largest retail chain in Romania in terms of sales (55 million euros in 2001). If taking the number of stores into account, then the largest chain is Mega Image, with 12 stores and more than 22 million euros in turnover. ZF