A €60 million credit line is being set up by the EBRD to finance projects in the Slovak Republic which increase energy efficiency, cut energy consumption and generate more energy from renewable sources. Under the new Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (SEFF), loans will be provided to private Slovak banks for on-lending to private companies, housing organisations and individual borrowers for relevant projects. The EBRD finance is complemented by a €15 million grant from the Bohunice International Decommissioning Support Fund.

Loans to private companies will be used for energy efficiency measures such as upgrading and modernisation of production facilities and small scale generation of electricity and heat from renewable sources. Housing organisations and residential costumers may receive loans for the installation of high efficiency gas boilers, heat pumps, double glazing and insulation as well as for urban renewable energy systems such as, for instance, solar boilers and wind turbines.

EBRD Vice President Brigita Schmögnerová said the new credit line will help the Slovak Republic make better use of energy resources at a time when energy efficiency and energy security are being recognised as a key challenge for sustainable development. The EBRD-financed facility will help the country implement its energy strategy and minimise the impact of the closure of units 1 and 2 of the Bohunice nuclear power plant.

The Bohunice International Decommissioning Support Fund was set up in 2001 to assist with the decommissioning of the two VVER-reactors at Bohunice V1 to which the Slovak Republic has committed itself under its EU accession treaty. Unit 1 was shut down at the end of 2006 and unit 2 will be closed next year, while the remaining two reactors at Bohunice V2 will remain operational. Contributors to the fund, which is administrated by the EBRD’s Nuclear Safety Department, are the European Community, the, and the .

The EBRD has launched similar programmes in other European countries which proved to be highly successful. The Bank is also promoting energy efficiency through a variety of measures ranging from energy audits to tailor-made loans for efficiency upgrades.

’s Cersanit expands into

€ 80.8 million EBRD loan to establish new production facilities

The EBRD is providing a €80.8 million loan to Cersanit Invest, a wholly owned Ukrainian subsidiary of the Cersanit Group, the largest Polish manufacturer and distributor of bathroom fittings and ceramic tiles. Loan proceeds will be used to finance the establishment of green-field production facilities of sanitary ware and ceramic tiles in Novograd Volinskiy, in Zhytomyr region of . The Loan will comprise an “A Loan” of €40.4 million for the Bank’s own account, and a “B Loan” of €40.4 million which will be syndicated to commercial banks.

It is expected that a new plant, once put into operation, will be producing around 1 million units of sanitary ware and around 7 million square metres of ceramic tiles every year. A manufacturing facility in will significantly strengthen Cersanit’s market presence in the country and increase competition in the sector.

Currently almost 52 per cent of tiles and 25 percent of sanitary ware in are imported. Local production will substitute the supply of Cersanit products from its plants in and satisfy the increasing demand for sanitary ware in . This expansion will help Cersanit match an expected healthy growth in the domestic sanitary ware and tiles markets as ’s economy develops further.

The transfer of skills and know-how to the local building materials sector should have a strong demonstration effect in the central region which is suffering from unemployment and a lack of investment, said EBRD Director for Ukraine Kamen Zahariev.

According to Dragica Pilipovic-Chaffey, EBRD Director for and Baltic States, the Cersanit Invest project will support the cross border expansion of the dynamic Polish company to , where it has been successfully exporting its products in the recent years. “We hope that the project will be one of many investments in Ukraine by Polish companies and its success may lead to increased Polish investments in this country and the region”, she said.

In November 2006, the Bank signed a EUR 40 million loan with Poland-based Barlinek, a manufacturer of wooden floors, establishing the production facility in the Ukrainian Vinnytsia.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the biggest financial investor in . As of January 2007 it had committed €2.87 billion through more than 130 projects.