The FINANCIAL — The EBRD and Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) are providing the Romanian company Green Oil and Lubes SRL with a US$ 38.7 million club loan for the development, construction and operation of a recycling plant for waste lubricant oils.
The financing is part of a US$ 56 million investment programme by the company, with the goal of building a 73,000-metric-tonne recycling facility in the southern Romanian city of Oltenita. The plant will recycle waste lubricant oils and transform them into base oils for sale and reuse in the automotive and industrial sectors, according to the EBRD.
Green Oil and Lubes SRL is part of a group of companies established by the Indian engineer and businessman Mazarali Kamumiya Saiyed. The group will contribute US$ 26 million of its own resources to the investment programme, while the remaining US$ 30 million will be ensured by a term loan in equal measure signed by the EBRD and BCR. Under the same facility agreement, BCR will also provide US$ 8.7 million for the financing of working-capital needs and recoverable VAT related to the development of the project
By supporting a new recycling facility, the investment addresses a core issue in Romania’s transition to a sustainable and green economy. Resource efficiency and recycling remain areas where there is significant room for improvement. On average every litre of lubricant oil generates 0.5 litres of waste lubricant oil. In Romania, only around 50 per cent of this waste is collected, and it is mainly used as fuel for producing heat, generating significant quantities of greenhouse gas emissions.
The new company expects to collect the majority of recyclable waste oil in the country and to create a product that is attractive and affordable for local customers. In addition, the construction of a brand-new facility will include a significant transfer of skills and technology, while providing approximately 70 new jobs.
Matteo Patrone, EBRD Regional Director, Romania and Bulgaria, said: “We are pleased and honoured to partner with a strong and dynamic company such as Green Oil and Lubes in this exciting venture. It is a highly innovative greenfield investment in Romania and one that focuses on the circular economy and the environment. The success of this project will demonstrate how business considerations and green concerns are more and more intertwined in a modern economy.”
Sergiu Manea, CEO of BCR, commented: “Co-financing environmental projects is one of the strategic directions of BCR and we are glad that we can contribute to an investment that addresses one of Romania’s critical issues, namely, domestic and industrial recycling facilities. We are constantly preoccupied with the sustainable and efficient targeting of financial resources towards technology, infrastructure, education, environmental protection and, implicitly, quality of life.”
Mazarali Kamumiya Saiyed, majority shareholder in Green Oil and Lubes, said: “We are honoured to partner with two major international banks in developing a unique project in Romania, in a strategic location, on the banks of the Danube river, which connects eastern and central Europe, allowing us to fully recycle waste oil that is collected in the region.”
The EBRD is a leading supporter of green energy. Under its Green Economy Transition approach the Bank aims to raise its investment in this area to more than 40 per cent of annual business investment by 2020. The EBRD is well on track to achieving this target.
The Bank is a leading investor in Romania and to date has invested €7.5 billion in some 400 projects in the country. In 2017, the Bank has signed more than 20 projects worth over €400 million.
Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), a member of Erste Group, is the most important financial group in Romania, including operations of universal banking (retail, corporate and investment banking, treasury and capital markets), as well as specialised companies on the leasing market, private pensions, housing banks and banking services.
Both banks acted as mandated lead arrangers for this transaction and BCR also acted as documentation, facility and security agent.
Badea Clifford Chance acted as legal adviser to the lenders while Reff and Associates acted as legal adviser for Green Oil and Lubes SRL.
