Romanian online retailer eMAG is developing a 100,000-120,000 square metre logistics hub near Budapest – the largest of this type in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), according to a company’s press release.

eMAG has operations in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary and a marketplace hosting 40,000 sellers. 

The investment is estimated at €100mn and the company already used a €30mn bridge loan to start it.

Greek Alpha Bank, which has developed a broader collaboration with eMAG, will extend a €70mn loan to finance the project.

In developing the project, eMAG is committed to BREEAM Excellent certification standards for green buildings, to optimise energy consumption and limit greenhouse gas emissions.

"As a leader in business lending in Greece, Alpha Bank's financing of eMAG's first logistics hub project in Central and Eastern Europe reiterates our bank's commitment to finance value-added projects that accelerate the formation of regional players and contribute to supporting sustainable economic growth", said Yannis Emiris, general director wholesale banking of Alpha Bank.

eMAG also announced plans to extend the credit facility made available to its customers to RON8,000-10,000 (€1,600-2000) from the current RON3,000-4,000 and will extend the payback period from a maximum of four months now to 12 months, company officials announced. One year after this facility was launched, it has been extended to 1mn customers and some 6% of the sales volume is financed under this instrument.

Under this facility, the products can be purchased either from eMAG or from the sellers active on the marketplace, if the value of the purchase exceeds RON100.

"I think we are close to a percentage of 6% of all sales that are financed through My Wallet. There are over a million people who have credit limits granted at the moment, I think it is a good area of growth for the future," said Tudor Manea, CEO of eMAG, in an interview.