Higest Expansion - Phase II (IFC-41386)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Mozambique
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Namaacha, Mafavuka, and Matola
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
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
Approved
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
Dec 16, 2024
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
Higest Mozambique, Lda
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
  • Industry and Trade
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)
$ 4.22 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)
$ 4.22 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.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 27.00 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
Community Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Feb 17, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Oct 21, 2024

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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.

According to the IFC, Higest Moçambique, Lda is an integrated poultry company located in Mozambique. The company sells (i) day old chicks (DoCs); (ii) chicken and animal feed and (iii) fresh and frozen chicken products. Higest headquarters in Machava area of Matola sub-city hosts the head office, hatchery, feed mill and the abattoir. The company also owns and operates 2 farms in Namaacha and Mafavuka providing breeders and broilers and operates 27 shops in owned and leased premises selling DoCs and feed to buyers, including 100 independent retailers in Mozambique. Higest has established a partnership with 10 outgrowers located in Namaacha and Matola, who supply broilers to its abattoir for production of frozen chicken products. Higest is implementing a phased expansion program to enhance its production and processing capacity and efficiency. The proposed IFC investment is a loan of up to US$ 4.22 million equivalent in Mozambican Meticals (MZN) to (i) increase the capacity of the hatchery in Matola by 40%; and (ii) upgrade Higest’s outgrowers’ broiler farms through in-kind credit.   

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

The IFC stated that the total Project cost is estimated at US$27 million, of which 16% will be funded with IFC’s A Loan, and 84% is funded by local banks and internally generated cash under the first phase of the Project. The IFC proposed investment consists of a secured loan of up to US$4.22 million and will be denominated in MZN with support from the IDA PSW LCF. 

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.

As stated by the IFC, founded in 1993, Higest is a family-owned business producing and selling Day-Old-Chicks (DOC), poultry feed and frozen chicken meat, with the following yearly nameplate capacity: 126,720 MT for feed, 18 million units for DOC and 8,538 MT for frozen/processed chicken.

Higest is 95% owned by Manuel Teixeira de Almeida, wife and his sons. Mr. de Almeida is a Portuguese entrepreneur with an economics background with more than 40 years of experience in the poultry sector.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Higest Moçambique, Lda Client Agriculture and Forestry

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.

General IFC Inquiries - IFC Communications:

Address: 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20433
Telephone: +1 202-473-3800
Fax: +1 202-974-4384

Client - Higest Moçambique, Lda:

Mario Couto - Chief Executive Officer
Phone: (+258) 843 893 914
Email: mariocouto@higest.co.mz
Address: Av. Josina Machel, km15 Machava, Maputo s
Website: https://www.higest.co.mz

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

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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How it works