Ducia Foundry Secures State and Region Bank Financing

Laddiaha - Ducia Foundry announced today that it had secured 50 billion ISK in financing from the State and Region Bank for an expansion of its operations in the Caldari State. Overall response in both Amarr and Caldari markets has been positive, though several objections are being raised from within both nations.

Ducia Foundry has operated in the State and elsewhere outside the Empire for quite some time, but the Empress' CAESA program, which has both encouraged Amarr industrial development in the State and made considerably more cash available to Caldari banks, made this particular move possible. According to the press release accompanying the deal, Ducia plans to use the funds to upgrade its mining and transport fleets in the State.

Despite the benefits of the deal, however, many traditionalists in the Empire are crying foul. "What we have is the Empire giving money to a State corporation, which is in turn lending that money out at a profit to an Amarr corporation," said Arira Okah, a prominent conservative cleric. "What purpose does the Caldari middleman serve but to drain our people?"

Ducia's competitors in the State are not pleased with the move either. Poksu Mineral Group's chief financial officer, Otuniki Tekken, in a petition to the CEP today stated that "this move seems counterproductive to a Caldari recovery." "These funds could have been used to build up Caldari industry, but instead our financial institutions are propping up Amarr competition inside the State. Wiyrkomi should insist that State and Region Bank reevaluate this policy immediately."

Wiyrkomi, the State and Region Bank's parent corporation, said only that "this deal is in the interests of both Wiyrkomi and the Caldari State," claiming the Ducia Foundry deal would not be reevaluated.