Oil and gas steel pipe supplier TMK Artrom has signed a five-year EUR 20 million loan agreement with Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), member of Erste Group Bank AG, the bank has announced.

The term loan of EUR 20 million is secured with Corporate Guarantee issued by mother company OAO TMK and is aimed at improving the current debt structure of TMK Artrom.

BCR has also increased the existing facilities available for the company: the overdraft facility from EUR 18.4 million to EUR 20 million, up to three years tenor, and the discounting line for promissory notes from RON 5 million to RON 10 million, 1 year tenor.

In addition, BCR provided a new treasury line of EUR 3 million, three years tenor, for interest rate and FX risk hedging.

TMK Artrom was founded in 1982, as a state owned company, under the name IT Slatina and its production started in 1988. It was transformed into a public limited company in 1991, and renamed Artrom S.A.In 1995 the company listed its shares on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. It was then privatized and became a public joint-stock company in 1999 with the Austrian company Staro Gmbh as its majority shareholder. In 2001, the German company Sinara Handel GmbH (renamed TMK-Europe) bought a controlling stake in Artrom S.A. In 2006, Artrom S.A. joined the world’s second largest pipe producer when it became part of the TMK group of companies. In Romania, the company is active in the city of Slatina, south of the country.

Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com