OREANDA-NEWS. November 09, 2010. The EBRD is investing up to USD 11.5 million in Fra-M, one of the largest pharmaceutical wholesale distributors in Ukraine. Financing from the equity investment will fund Fra-M’s investment programme, which will focus on the expansion of its wholesale operations, including investments in logistics facilities and the replenishment of working capital, reported the press-centre of EBRD.

As a result of this investment programme, the Donetsk based company should increase its market share to 15 per cent by 2015 and make it to the top three of the leading pharmaceutical wholesale distributors in the country. The Bank’s investment will also facilitate improvements in Fra-M’s logistics, which, in particular, envisage the relocation of its central warehouse to Ukraine’s capital Kiev and the opening of a new regional warehouse in western Ukraine.

Fra-M’s business development programme, funded by the EBRD, aims to offer a larger range of products and better terms of service to the suppliers, pharmacies and private customers as well as to increase competition in the state hospitals’ segment.

The Bank sees this investment project as an opportunity to introduce new business standards in the Ukrainian pharmaceutical sector.

As a shareholder in one of the fast-growing local companies, the Bank can help Fra-M set new benchmarks of corporate governance in this country.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the largest financial investor in Ukraine. As of 1 October 2010, it had committed around EUR5.1 billion through 204 projects.