(News from RISI) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is considering the provision of a long-term loan of up to Euro 20 million to the Polish tissue specialist Velvet Care.
The loan would be used to finance the company’s capital expenditure, including a new tissue machine and related infrastructure.
Velvet Care announced last year that it was planning to spend some PLN 200 million over the next two to three years on the Klucze mill in southern Poland. The company said the investment would raise its tissue capacity and broaden its product range.
The Klucze paper mill was established in 1897 and is still one of the leading manufacturers of paper products in Poland.
Tissue production at the site was launched in 1976 with the installation of a Voith machine.
Twenty years later the mill became part of International Paper and launched the Velvet brand in 1997.
In 2003, the Klucze mill became a part of Kimberly-Clark. Ten years after that, senior managers together with the investment fund Avalon MBO II took over the mill and started to operate it under the name Velvet Care, based on the firm’s flagship product.
Last year, the company generated sales of PLN 264 million, according to the EBRD. The target date for the decision on the loan for Velvet Care is May 25.
