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Istanbul, Turkey, May 21, 2008—
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is supporting the expansion of the Posuda glassware plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia. This will help reduce the country’s reliance on imported glass products and generate more employment opportunities.
IFC’s $40 million loan to Turkey’s Sisecam Group, owner of Posuda, will help the company build a new furnace with a glass pulling capacity of 120 tons per day at five production lines. This is expected to increase Posuda’s capacity from 81 million to 179 million pieces of glassware a year. The total value of the project is $81 million.
“This transaction underscores our long-standing relationship with IFC and our shared commitment to investing in emerging markets,” said Dogan Arikan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sisecam Group. “Russia’s glassware market is still dominated by imports, and we hope to change that by expanding Posuda’s capacities.”
“The project will help Posuda consolidate its position in the Russian market by boosting production of high-quality products, while creating employment opportunities in Nizhny Novgorod,” said Shahbaz Mavaddat, IFC Director for Southern Europe and Central Asia.
"IFC is pleased to support the Sisecam Group in a series of South-South investments, and the Posuda project is the first in the glassware segment in Russia.”
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, fosters sustainable economic growth in developing countries by financing private sector investment, mobilizing private capital in local and international financial markets, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. IFC’s vision is that poor people should have the opportunity to escape poverty and improve their lives. In FY07, IFC committed $8.2 billion and mobilized an additional $3.9 billion through syndications and structured finance for 299 investments in 69 developing countries. IFC also provided advisory services in 97 countries. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
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About the Sisecam Group
The Sisecam Group is a long-standing client that IFC helped grow from a local company in the 1970s to a major exporter in the 1980s. The company is a regional player now, with investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, and Russia. For more information, visit
www.sisecam.com
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