Brussels, 07/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to make a £65 million sterling loan to glassmaker NSG UK Enterprise Limited, which trades under the Pilkington brand, to help modernise its production facilities in St Helens, Merseyside, and fund research and development (R&D) into new processes and products. NSG UK will be the first British company to benefit from the Risk Sharing Finance Facility (RSFF) set up by the EIB jointly with the European Commission in June 2007 to make finance for research, development and innovation available to a wider spectrum of companies. NSG UK is investing a total of £130 million (approximately €163 million) in the project to modernise its Greengate float glass factory and fund R&D at its research centres in Ormskirk, Lancashire, and Gelsenkirchen and Witten in Germany. Approximately 65 percent of the project's total costs are related to R&D. The project will improve energy efficiency at the Greengate plant, thereby reducing CO2 emissions, and safeguard jobs in the area, which qualifies for assistance under the current EU structural funds programme (2007-13). (O.L./transl.rt)