UCL Pharma (IFC-39904)

Countries
  • Kenya
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
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
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
May 10, 2018
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
UNIVERSAL CORPORATION LTD
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 Amount (USD)
$ 10.00 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
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jan 25, 2019

Disclosed by Bank Mar 29, 2018

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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.

Universal Corporation Limited (‘UCL’ or the ‘Company’ - http://ucl.co.ke/) was established in 1996, starting with a small manufacturing unit in Nairobi’s Industrial Area. The business experienced significant growth and thus, set up a state of the art manufacturing plant about 40km outside Nairobi, in Kikuyu Town. UCL is Sub-Sahara Africa’s (ex-South Africa) largest and one of the two World Health Organization (WHO) pre-qualified pharmaceutical manufacturers. The company’s manufacturing facility and production layout meets the basic GMP requirements with systems and procedures developed as per WHO GMP requirements. UCL manufactures over 100 formulations including tablets, capsules, syrups & suspensions, ointments & creams which it supplies to mostly fragile and conflict affected states (FCS) and low-income IDA countries (LIIDA) in Southern and East Africa.

The project involves a senior loan of up to US$10 million in UCL, to help finance the upgrade and development plans of their manufacturing plant.  

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.

Universal Corporation Limited (‘UCL’ or the ‘Company’ - http://ucl.co.ke/) was established in 1996, starting with a small manufacturing unit in Nairobi’s Industrial Area. The business experienced significant growth and thus, set up a state of the art manufacturing plant about 40km outside Nairobi, in Kikuyu Town. UCL is Sub-Sahara Africa’s (ex-South Africa) largest and one of the two World Health Organization (WHO) pre-qualified pharmaceutical manufacturers. The company’s manufacturing facility and production layout meets the basic GMP requirements with systems and procedures developed as per WHO GMP requirements. UCL manufactures over 100 formulations including tablets, capsules, syrups & suspensions, ointments & creams which it supplies to mostly fragile and conflict affected states (FCS) and low-income IDA countries (LIIDA) in Southern and East Africa.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Universal Corporation Limited Parent Company -

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.

Contact Person: Perviz Rajnikant Dhanani

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/

How it works

How it works