The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a loan of up to €20 million to Croatian food and non-food distributor Orbico to support its expansion and efficiency improvements.
The EBRD loan will be matched by a loan of the same size provided by Zagrebačka banka, Croatia’s largest bank and part of Unicredito Group.
The loan will enable Orbico to finance the acquisition of 80 per cent of Polish company Distribev sp.z.o.o and the distributor of Heineken on the Polish market, and expand its operations in Poland. Orbico will also invest in improving the efficiency of its subsidiary in Bulgaria and restructure its balance sheet in Slovenia.
Orbico has developed a programme that it says supports local and regional producers in expanding to foreign markets, through the provision of marketing, logistics and customer services. For example, the acquisition of Distribev will support exports by Croatian and Bosnian producers into Poland.
Orbico is the leading FMCG distributor in Croatia and is the largest company of its kind in central and south-eastern Europe, with operations in 18 countries.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
