JTI takes out loan in RON from ING

Cigarette manufacturer JT International Romania announced it would take out a credit in RON equivalent to 60 million dollars (47.2 million euros) from ING Bank this year, according to data published in the Official Gazette. The company”s decision comes after shareholders of JTI Romania a month ago approved another credit worth 21.5 million dollars (17 million euros) from the same bank. As a result of the new decisions made by the shareholders, the total value of the loan requested by JTI Romania will go up from 63.5 million dollars (50 million euros) to 120 million dollars (94.4 million euros). “JTI does not ?”increase” the value of the loan, it merely redirects the source of financing from the external to the local one – ING,” explains Gilda Lazar, Corporate Affairs Director of JTI Romania. Lazar explained that all the company”s external loans were reimbursed and that a local loan had been taken out to fund current operations. “It is a strategic decision by the corporate management, by which JTI Romania moved from loans in foreign currency taken from companies within the group to loans in RON. The decision reflects to a large extent the confidence in the domestic currency,” Gilda Lazar also specified. ZF