EBRD Grants RON 182.8 Million (€36M) To NewCold For Romania’s First High-Automation Cold Storage Warehouse In Bucharest, Co-Financed With BCR

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced a loan of up to RON 182.8 million (approximately €36 million) to NewCold Romania SRL, enabling the development of the company’s first high-automation cold storage warehouse in the country. This initiative marks a key step in NewCold’s continued expansion in Central and Eastern Europe, following the completion of two major facilities in Poland last year.

The project in Bucharest will include both a fully automated warehouse and an adjacent manual warehouse, forming the first two phases of a larger development plan. The EBRD will lend alongside Banca Comercială Română (BCR), which is also contributing RON 182.8 million, bringing the combined initial financing to RON 365.6 million. Over the full duration of the project, the two banks are expected to extend up to RON 695.6 million in total funding. EBRD’s financing will be supported by a partial EU guarantee under the EBRD InvestEU Framework for Sustainable Transition, a mechanism designed to unlock capital for projects that advance green, resilient, and competitive growth.

According to Vlaho Kojakovic, EBRD Director for Real Estate, the investment introduces a new standard of automated and energy-efficient logistics infrastructure in Romania. He emphasized that this project brings cutting-edge technology capable of significantly reducing energy consumption and emissions while strengthening supply chain resilience and raising overall industry performance. These advancements align closely with the EBRD’s broader mission to foster sustainable and competitive transformation across its regions of operation.

NewCold, recognized as the world’s third-largest provider of refrigerated food logistics, operates 26 highly automated, energy-efficient warehousing facilities across three continents with a total capacity exceeding 2 million pallet positions. Supported by its proprietary technology platform and a diverse team of over 3,000 employees from more than 40 nationalities, the company delivers end-to-end temperature-controlled supply chain solutions for leading global food producers.

The upcoming Bucharest facility will introduce Romania to NewCold’s highly resource-efficient logistics model, which is engineered to reduce energy intensity by around 50 percent compared with traditional cold storage warehouses of similar scale. Through automation, optimized storage density, and advanced temperature-control systems, the facility is expected to support substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This directly contributes to Romania’s national climate objectives and ongoing efforts to increase energy efficiency across key industrial sectors.

The project also aligns with the broader goals of InvestEU, a strategic initiative of the European Union focused on facilitating sustainable infrastructure, innovation, digitalization, social investments, and SME growth. By offering a guarantee mechanism, InvestEU helps mobilize financing for projects that strengthen long-term economic resilience and sustainable development across member states.

As a primary implementing partner of InvestEU, the EBRD channels the EU guarantee through direct lending and risk-sharing instruments across its EU countries of operations. The EBRD remains a major supporter of private-sector growth in Romania, with over €12.3 billion invested across 584 projects to date. This latest investment reinforces the Bank’s commitment to accelerating green, competitive, and future-ready logistics infrastructure while supporting Romania’s continued economic modernization.