The EBRD is lending Tvornica Opeke Sarajevo (TOS), a brick company in Bosnia and Herzegovina, €6.2mn to help restart its operations.

TOS will use the bank’s loan to renovate a disused building to eventually produce 18 versions of traditional and thermal clay bricks. The loan will also help fund facilities for drying, wrapping and storing bricks.

Claudio Viezzoli, EBRD director for the Western Balkans, says the loan will help meet growing demands for materials by local construction companies reflecting the growing construction sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Additionally, the bank’s loan will help increase competition benefiting the sector, as well as residents and businesses.

Established in 2004 as a subsidiary of Nasicecement, the second largest cement producer in Croatia, TOS is an example of cross border investment in the Western Balkans, which is crucial for the region’s economic development. This latest loan will strengthen that cross border connection, says Viezzoli.

The EBRD is one of the largest investors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, having committed more than €356mn in 40 projects ranging from transport and infrastructure to banking and support for small and medium-sized enterprises.