OREANDA-NEWS. April 04, 2012. As General Director of Glass Container Prim Oleg Baban informs, IFC has mobilized a USD 3 million parallel loan from the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank to the company. The loans are to help Glass Container Prim to help expand its operations and support the country’s economic recovery.

This investment has followed a combined USD 16.3 million debt-to-equity swap by the company’s two largest shareholders: Western NIS Enterprise Fund, and Moldova Agroindbank. The transaction will help GC Prim, a key supplier to Moldova’s food and beverage sector, which accounts for 20.5% of all Moldovan exports, to restructure its balance sheet and grow its business. According to Tomasz Telma, IFC Director for Europe and Central Asia, restructuring GC Prim’s financial obligations was vital to put the company’s business on a sound financial footing.

As Natalie Jaresko, WNISEF (Western NIS Enterprise Fund) President and Chief Executive Officer, said, supporting portfolio companies in restructuring and raising additional capital is just one of the many ways the Fund add value as a shareholder. Glass Container Prim glass factory is one of the biggest projects financed by Moldova Agroindbank. The success of this project is very important for the Moldovan economy, and cooperation with leading financial institutions will contribute to develop and increase GC Prim’s business.

The successful partnership will also help potential investors in their decision to make investments in manufacturing and other sectors of Moldova’s economy, Natalia Vrabie, President of Management Board of Agroindbank, said. IM Glass Container Prim S.A., is a Moldovan private company producing high-quality flint glass containers since 2010. The company has glass melting furnace, equipped with state of the art forming equipment, enabling it to produce over 130 million of high quality conventional bottles annually.

It is majority owned by Western NIS Enterprise Fund (81,5%) and Moldova Agroindbank (16,9%). IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, was founded at the decision of the USA Congress and financed by the government of the USA via the US Agency for International Development. Since Moldova became a member of IFC in 199, IFC has invested in 37 companies of the country over USD 166 mln. WNISEF is governed by Horizon Capital Associates, LLC.