OREANDA-NEWS. August 17, 2012. Priorbank – the leading commercial bank in Belarus – and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, have arranged a EUR 45 million financing package for the Alutech Group – the largest private manufacturer of aluminum profiles in the Republic of Belarus. The purpose of investment is to support the growth and export expansion by building new plants.

The financing of the company will be divided into two parts: Priorbank will provide EUR 20 million, the IFC will lend another EUR 25 million from its own funds.

“This is the second joint project of the Alutech Group with the International Finance Corporation”, Alexei Zhukov, general director of the Alutech Group, said. “In the past five years we have successfully completed the construction of one of our businesses with the help of IFC. Today, we continue to expand production capacity of Alutech by the construction of the second stage of the extrusion plant and the commissioning of a new plant for the production of gates. The total amount of the investment project in view of our company is about 90 million Euros.”

Alutech’s products – aluminum profile systems, roller shutters and gates – are widely used in industrial, residential and commercial real estate development. 85% of Alutech’s production is exported.  The geographical distribution of the exports includes 37 countries. The financing for Alutech, employer of more than 3,000 people, will also support indirect employment along the supply chain. Especially small and medium-sized enterprises are playing a key role as distributors of Alutech’s final products.

After completion of the extrusion plant the Alutech Group should be the largest extrusion company in the CIS. The production capacity of the new plant will amount to 45 thousand tons of extruded profiles per year. This is almost 1.5 times higher than the capacity of the existing plant.

The second company to be built as part of the investment project, focuses on the production of components for gates, and finished products. The construction of the modern production facility has already started on an area comprising more than nine hectares. Another factory the Alutech Group is currently building produce aluminum profile systems of its own production.

Both plants are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013.

“Priorbank’s decision to participate in the financing of this major project is a great example of the continued support of innovative Belarusian enterprises with significant export potential. By participating in this facility, we are implementing our strategy to facilitate the attraction of foreign investments into the Belarusian economy,” said Vadim Matyushkin, Member of the Board of “Priorbank” JSC.

“Our strategy for Belarus focuses on helping private sector players increase their competitiveness. Our new project with the Alutech Group will help its further technological modernization, streamlining its corporate governance and further enhancing transparency,” said Max Yacoub, head of the IFC office in Belarus. “We hope it will also encourage other investments into technologically advanced companies in Belarus.”

Belarus joined the IFC in 1992. The IFC has been actively involved in advisory services in the country since 1993, starting with the privatization of small businesses.  Currently, the IFC focuses its efforts on improving the country’s business environment and investment climate. From 2004 through June 2012, the IFC committed over USD 300 million in a number of projects in Belarus.