Arctic negotiates $25m loan

International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank’s investment division could grant Turkish Arcelik Group, the owner of Arctic Gaesti, a loan of up to $25 million for investments in the factory in Romania.
“We have recently got IFC’s approval for this project. There are still several stages left until the contract is signed. We estimate the signing could take place in May, but it is all up to IFC’s internal procedures,” Arctic’s financial manager Erhan Saylan said.
He specified Arctic’s investment programme highlighted the need for external financing.
The Turkish group holds 91.14% in Arctic and has put out a public takeover bid to buy all the remaining shares. The operation will end in turning the company into a closed one and having it delisted from the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
The IFC data show the Arcelik-Arctic project is worth some $50 million, with the international financial institution set to grant a loan of up to $25 million.
The Turkish company is planning to invest about $20 million in Arctic, as soon as it secures all the shares, in order to boost its productive capacity and modernise its products, so that they could be exported to the nearby countries. Part of the funds will be used for restructuring the debts of the Gaesti-based company.
Arctic concluded 2002 with 79.9bn ROL ($2.4 million) in net profit and 1,862bn ROL ($56.3 million) in total revenues. Its debts had come to total 567bn ROL ($17.1 million) at the end of 2002, while receivables were worth 356bn ROL ($10.7 million).
Arctic’s main shareholder is Turkey-based Arcelik AS, which bought 91.14% in it for approximately $18 million last November.
The Turkish company makes home appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, cookers and vacuum cleaners mainly and holds the Beko and Arcelik brands in its portfolio. The total sales of the group amounted to about $1.5bn last year, with sales abroad accounting for approximately half of this amount. It accounts for nearly 50% of the Romanian refrigerating products market. Mediafax