Early Warning System

Countries

Colombia
Mexico
Peru

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Financial Institutions

IDB Invest (IDBI)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Approved

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."

Voting Date

Oct 20, 2020

Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.

Borrower

Farmalatam Holding Inc.

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Education and Health

The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.

Investment Type(s)

Equity

The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.

Investment Amount (USD)

$ 8.00 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.

Bank Documents

ESS Farmalisto Disclosure EN 20200807.pdf

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IDBI website

Updated in EWS Jul 10, 2021

Disclosed by Bank Aug 7, 2020

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Project Description

If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

IDB Invest is considering a capital investment of up to US$8 million in Farmalatam Holding Inc. ("Farmalatam" or the "Company"). Farmalatam[1] is a leading home healthcare technology platform in Latin America that provides comprehensive healthcare solutions to patients. Farmalatam is a 100% digital pharmacy with no physical stores, which distributes pharmaceutical products. In addition, it provides home health and telemedicine services through its digital platform "CARE24". Since its incorporation in 2014, the Company has developed a user and partnership base, demonstrating its readiness to move on to the next phase and achieve greater scales. Farmalatam currently operates in Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.

The capital round will allow Farmalatam to support its growth plan as follows: (i) finance current operations to support expected growth through investments in marketing, information technology, and human resources, among others; (ii) finance strategic acquisitions of related businesses in Latin America; and (iii) promote its regional expansion.

This investment will require the implementation of reforms in order to strengthen its policies and controls in its operation - particularly to ensure equitable prices in the context of the health crisis and thereafter. Furthermore, Farmalatam is committed to implementing improvements in corporate governance.

The objectives of investing in Farmalatam are (i) to help support the growth of the digital economy and stimulate productivity in the pharmaceutical sector through a disruptive, technology-enabled business model with sizable addressable markets; (ii) to contribute to reducing the cost of medicine and expand access to cheaper costs in target markets; and (iii) to support access to medical services and home treatments.

[1]www.farmalisto.com

People Affected By This Project

People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

1. General Information of the Project and Scope of IDB Invest's Review

Farmalatam Holding Inc. (hereinafter, the "Company") consists of two companies aimed at providing health products and services through a technological platform, which combines the experience of the pharmaceutical industry with e-commerce. The Company was created in Colombia in 2013 under the commercial name Farmalisto S.A.S. (hereinafter, the "Enterprise" or "Farmalisto") and is dedicated to the online sale of pharmaceutical products. It extended its operations to Mexico in 2014 and to Peru in 2019.

In 2018, the Company enlarged its operations with the creation of CARE24 S.A.S. ("CARE24"), which is Colombia's first online home-based Health Care Institution (IPS, for its acronym in Spanish). CARE24 is also geared toward providing home health services using a digital platform. With both enterprises, the Company provides, through its digital platform, comprehensive health solutions, providing users with access to products and services in the market at competitive prices.

This operation will allow Farmalisto to extend its capacity to serve clients nationwide in Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, and CARE24 to enter the market and extend its services to patients in Mexico and Peru. The scope of the IDB Invest Environmental and Social Review included an analysis of the Company's information and documents, as well as online meetings with the staff responsible for management systems and human and operating resources of the Farmalisto and CARE24 parent company in Colombia, as well as its main suppliers and contractors. The Environmental and Social Due Diligence (ESDD) Process did not include visits to the Company's facilities due to travel restrictions implemented by the Colombian government in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

2. Environmental and Social Categorization and Rationale

In accordance with the IDB Invest Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy, the project has been classified as a Category B operation, given that it may generate, among others, the following impacts and risks: (i) increased generation of hospital waste, and (ii) generation or increase of occupational health and safety risks for workers. Such impacts and risks are estimated to be minor.

The Project will trigger the following Performance Standards (PS):

PS 1: Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts

PS 2: Labor and Working Conditions

PS 3: Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention

PS 4: Community Health, Safety and Security