23 June 2009 - The EBRD is helping to raise standards and boost competition in the Macedonian wine sector with a new financing to Tikves, the country's leading wine producer.
The Bank is providing a loan of €2.5 million to finance the company’s investment programme to finalise modernisation of Tikves production operations and improve the structure of its balance sheet.
Following the EBRD’s €6 million equity investment in Tikves in November 2008, this loan reinforces the Bank’s commitment to the company’s drive to improve its already strong market position in FYR Macedonia and in the region.
The proceeds of the loan will be used to help Tikves to further expand the sales of its high quality branded bottled wines into neighbouring countries, and to offer an improved and competitive portfolio of products to the local market.
“In the current tight credit market in FYR Macedonia, the EBRD is pleased to provide the necessary financing to enhance company’s operations and enable it to build up on Tikves strong brand-name in the country and the region. This project will boost competition within the wine sector throughout the whole Western Balkans region”, said Elena Urumovska, Head of EBRD’s Resident Office in Skopje.
Dating back to 1885, Tikves now has the largest processing capacity for wine in south-eastern Europe. To date, the company has won more than 2,000 quality awards at domestic and international wine fairs and was recently ranked among the top 30 global wine brands at the 2008 Wine Innovation Forum in Paris.
Since the beginning of its operations in FYR Macedonia, the EBRD has committed €480 million in more that 40 projects in the financial services, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors. The Bank’s own investments have attracted additional financing worth more than €580 million.