Summary sheet
The project consists of: (i) Lenzing's research and development (R&D) activities in Man-Made Cellulose (MMC) fibres and (ii) selected, proprietary process innovations to pilot the industrial-scale feasibility to produce new, high quality MMC fibres. Most of the R&D activities will be carried out in the promoter's R&D centre in Lenzing, Austria. The R&D component encompasses the expenditures from 2013 up to and including 2016. The selected capital expenditures to test the feasibility of the new fibres are budgeted for 2013 and 2014.
The top priority of the project is to develop higher quality MMC products that will enable the promoter to speed up its penetration of higher-margin markets using specialty fibres for textiles or nonwovens.
The project mainly concerns investment in R&D that are expected to be carried out in existing facilities already authorised for the same purpose and would therefore not require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) under the Directive 2011/92/EU. However, the project also includes investments associated to the pilot implementation at industrial scale of proprietary innovations focusing on processes which are listed in the Annex II (pre-treatment of fibres or textiles) of the EIA Directive and for which an EIA has actually been requested by the Competent Authorities. The status of the EIA process will be checked by the Bank services during the project appraisal.
The promoter is a private company not operating in the utilities sector and not having a status of a contracting authority. Thus it is not covered by EU Directives on procurement. However, the promoter's procurement procedures are expected to be in line with EIB guidelines for private sector projects. The Bank's services will verify details during the project due diligence.
The Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF) is an innovative credit risk sharing scheme jointly set up by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank to improve access to debt financing for private companies or public institutions promoting activities with a higher financial risk profile in the fields of research, technological development, demonstration and innovation investments.
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Before financing approval by the Board of Directors, and before loan signature, projects are under appraisal and negotiation. The information and data provided on this page are therefore indicative.
They are provided for transparency purposes only and cannot be considered to represent official EIB policy (see also the Explanatory notes).
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