Tuesday, December 16 2014

The EBRD is lending US$ 9.3 million to Shen Holding, one of the largest and leading building materials manufacturer and gypsum mine operator in Armenia and a long standing EBRD client.

The EBRD press release says that the proceeds of the loan will fund the construction of a new gypsum plaster production plant producing higher quality plasters with higher energy efficiency and isolation characteristics. Furthermore, the company will purchase specialised vehicles, mining and auxiliary equipment, which will allow it to increase production volumes to satisfy the demand in the Armenian and Georgian markets with affordable quality products.

HSBC Bank Armenia cjsc also provides parallel funding to Shen Holding, co-invested in purchase of energy efficient equipment. 

"Supporting private businesses is one of the EBRD's key priorities in Armenia. Shen Holding has been a longstanding partner of our Bank for 10 years. We are pleased to help the company in its drive to expand the range of its high quality products," said Mark Davis, Head of the EBRD office in Yerevan.

The EBRD is one of the largest investors in Armenia. Since the beginning of its operations in the country in 1992, the Bank has invested over ?650 million in 133 projects in the financial, corporate, energy and infrastructure sectors, with 87 per cent of investments in the private sector.

Shen Holding is growing dynamically into the leading building materials producer in Armenia. The company's products such as dry mixtures, paints, lacquers and concrete blocks are produced using locally sourced raw materials, offering a good quality alternative to more expensive imported products. 

To-date, Shen Holding has created over 500 jobs. Shen Holding dates back to 1970 when the largest enterprise for state supplies of non-ferrous metals ("HayGunMet") was established. In 1995, the latter was privatized and transformed into Shen Concern CJSC.  Having merged with Huntsman Building Products, Shen Concern was converted into Shen Holding which nowadays encompasses Shen Concern CJSC, Huntsman Building Products and Shen Group. The majority shareholder is Samvel Beglaryan. In 2013, the company's net profit was 298.785 mln AMD versus 294.669 mln AMD in 2012 and 151.881 mln AMD in 2011.