Ecom Corp Loan (IFC-36815)

Countries
  • Brazil
  • Ecuador
  • Ghana
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Active
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
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
Mar 31, 2016
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
ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Limited
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 50.00 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.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 50.00 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.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Nov 2, 2019

Disclosed by Bank Jan 29, 2016

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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.

It is proposed that IFC provide up to $50 million to ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Ltd. (“ECOM” or the “company”), an existing IFC client, for capital expenditure in Brazil (from where coffee and cotton is sourced), Ghana (cocoa) and Ecuador (also cocoa) and permanent working capital for general purposes, including providing financing to small holder farmers. The proposed investment would enable ECOM to: i) strengthen its balance sheet with permanent working capital; ii) support its ongoing efforts to further vertically integrate from its coffee and cocoa sourcing operations into midstream operations (e.g. coffee wet mills and cocoa processing plants); and iii) continue to invest into improving its sustainable (traceable/certified) supply chain practices.

IFC has had a long association with ECOM. Investments in 2006 (project #24433), 2008 (#26705), and 2010 (#29005) provided corporate loans to finance advances/provide long term loans to ECOM coffee suppliers in Central America. In 2012 (#30789) IFC also provided a $50 million C Loan to ECOM to allow the company to increase the amount of working capital, and support ECOM’s internal financing needs. In 2015, a $30 million credit facility (#33969) was jointly approved by IFC, IDB and Starbucks for long-term funding for coffee producers in Nicaragua to renovate farms affected by coffee rust.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

ECOM is a leading commodity trader incorporated in Switzerland with operations in 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. ECOM operates in sectors that are dominated by smallholder farmers and provides short-term loans for seasonal credits to its coffee and cocoa suppliers and selectively long-term loans for productivity and certification related investments. The Group is a significant player in the global coffee, cocoa and cotton trades.

ECOM was founded in Barcelona, Spain in 1849 by the Esteve Family, which still owns 94% of the Company with the balance held by the senior management.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Oliver Schenkenberg
ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Ltd.
Av Guillemin 16
CH -1009 Pully
Switzerland
Tel: + 41 58 721 7210
E-mail: mailto:oschenkenberg@ecomtrading.com

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

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