EBRD Lending 25 Mln Euro to Support R&D at Bulgaria's Sofia Med
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has extended a 25 million euro ($28.6 million) loan to Bulgarian copper products manufacturer Sofia Med, which the company will mainly use to develop new products, the bank said on Monday. Several commercial banks are extending parallel financing as part of an 85 million euro long-term joint financing package, the EBRD said in a statement. Sofia Med is planning to use the funds to set up a new research and development unit aimed at creating new, higher value-added products. Sofia Med also intends to partner with a leading company in the field of special alloys to adopt their know-how. Sofia Med, which exports 95% of its output, manufactures rolled and extruded copper and copper alloy products. To date, the EBRD has invested nearly 3.9 billion euro into various sectors of Bulgaria’s economy in about 250 projects.