Swedish agricultural cooperative Lantmännen Group has received a €90m ($95m) investment to help finance a new bakery plant in Romania.

The owner of bakery company Lantmännen Unibake was granted the loan by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the investor announced in a release.

Lantmännen Unibake, which produces frozen baked goods in the country, will use the money to build a new “state-of-the-art bakery” site in Bucharest.

The factory is expected to act as a “central production hub” to supply baked products to countries across central and eastern Europe.

Once construction of the facility is complete, it is expected to be one of Lantmännen’s largest bakery sites.

It is still unclear when the building of the site will commence.

The EBRD said the new plant “will unlock the export potential of bakery products in Romania, one of Europe’s largest wheat exporters”, and will also help to modernise the country's bakery industry.

Lantmännen’s decarbonisation commitments, approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative in July, include reducing emissions from bakeries and transport by 50% in 2030.

Some of its crucial areas for emissions reduction include flour and raw materials, where it plans to cut CO2 by 23% and 39% respectively.  

Lantmännen is owned by 18,000 Swedish farmers and has approximately 10,000 employees.

The company publishes its financial results across three four-month periods. In the eight months to the end of August, Lantmännen’s net sales stood at SKr43.8bn ($3.92bn), up from SKr37.66bn a year earlier. Operating income reached SKr1.83bn, against SKr1.14bn in the corresponding period in the previous year. Net income was SKr1.32bn, against SKr851m.

Lantmännen has been contacted for further comment on its plans for the Bucharest facility.