Railway freight car manufacturer Romvag - Caracal, a member of International Railway Systems (IRS), will borrow 15 million EUR (54.6 million RON) for 12 months jointly with Astra Vagoane and Meva SA, which are also members of the same group. The loan will be taken from ABN AMRO Bank and collateralized with several buildings owned by Romvag.
Romvag - Caracal concluded 2006 with a net profit of 14.87 million RON, up 3x from the 4.75 million RON posted in 2005. The turnover doubled from 60.91 million RON in 2005 to 130.26 million RON in 2006. The company was privatized in 2002 and is currently controlled by International Railway Systems - Luxembourg, which is controlled by Cristian Burci.
Romvag SA was established in 1973 and has manufactured and sold over 70,000 railway cars, of which 50,000 were exported to France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, the former USSR, Iran, Gabon etc). For a while, the company was one of the leading railway car exporters in the world. In the recent years, the most important customers included CFR Marfa, Servtrans, Corridor, Touax, AX Benet, MAV Dunavagon, Kronospan, Holcim, Rompetrol Logistic.
International Railway Systems also controls Astra - Arad, Meva - Drobeta Turnu Severin, Romvag Caracal and ICPV. Internationally, the group controls MSV Studenka in the Czech Republic and Rail Project in Slovakia.