Business news

MINSK, 6 December (BelTA) – OAO Belinvestbank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plan to implement a pilot project to restructure one of the state-owned enterprises, Chairman of the Board of the bank Andrei Brishtelev told BelTA.

“Currently Belarus is implementing an interesting project. We are applying the international experience of the EBRD and the expert consultants to create a distressed debt market and to develop mechanisms and instruments to restructure state-run enterprises. We already have a pilot project, which is now in progress. We have passed the first stage: together with the EBRD we have developed a financial business model to restructure one the state enterprises,” he said.

According to Andrei Brishtelev, a roadmap for such reforms has already been developed. “At a recent meeting of the Belinvestbank board and representatives of the EBRD and consultants, we have adopted this integrated document and are beginning to work with this company,” he said. The head of Belinvestbank would not name the company but said that it operates in the processing industry.

The Bank plans to take part in this project as a manager. The project will be launched in a matter of months. “I think, we will begin to work in 2 to 3 months. We need some time to get the project approved in the government,” he said.

The Chairman of the Board drew the attention that such a pilot project is an initiative of Belinvestbank. “If the project is successful, it will be replicated,” Andrei Brishtelev noted.