Nuclearelectrica clinches 400m euro loan

Nuclearelectrica on Tuesday signed a 400 million euro loan agreement with a syndicate comprising SociA©tA© GA©nA©rale, Banca Romana pentru Dezvoltare (Romanian Development Bank – BRD)-SociA©tA© GA©nA©rale and Credit Lyonnais. The money is needed for completing the works on the Unit 2 of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant.
This is the largest credit ever granted to a company in Romania.
“The loan will come with a four year grace period (i.e. during which only the interest is paid), while the works on the Unit 2 are to be completed. The money will be repaid in 15 years after the four-year grace period. Six months from the moment the reactor becomes operational, the credit will start being repaid,” Ion Rotaru, Nuclearelectrica general manager said. Rotaru did not care to disclose the interest of the loan, though. “The interest is variable and up to the market rates. It is below 10% a year,” Rotaru specified.
Completing the works and making Cernavoda Unit 2 operational are estimated to cost $689 million.
Nuclearelectrica estimates $130 million turnover this year.
BRD chairman Bogdan Baltazar says SociA©tA© GA©nA©rale will contribute some 350 million euros to this venture, BRD will come up with 25 million euros, while Credit Lyonnais will grant approximately nine million euros. The credit will be fully secured by the Romanian State. “We lobbied heavily by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to have it allow the Romanian Government to secure the loan,” Baltazar specified.
Representatives of Nuclearelectrica, of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL Canada) and of ANSALDO Italy signed the commercial contract for completing the works and making Unit 2 operational in May last year. 
Delegate research minister Serban Valeca early in September said the works on reactor 2 had been 43% completed. He added tests were due to start in 2004, with the actual operation of the reactor set to begin in late 2005.