Denmark is building a new national theatre – known as Actors’ House – in Nyhavn, in the very heart of Copenhagen. The project will take three years and the plan is to have it ready by the fourth quarter of 2007.
Visual act won the contract, which is worth around 50 MSEK, to supply the control system for the stage. However, the Danish state, which is building the theatre, required Visual act to provide a bank guarantee for a certain proportion of the contract price. These funds will be frozen for the three-year duration of the project. This means that a small firm like Visual act could not have accepted a contract of this size without assistance. Visual act contacted The Swedish Export Credit Guarantee Board, EKN, and obtained the backing it needed.
“This backing has lifted us into a different league; it meant we could accept the contract and still be able to develop and finance new projects and contracts. We could never have accepted the Danish order without a guarantee from EKN,” says Kristian Franck, president of Visual act.