Early Warning System

Countries

Morocco

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

Financial Institutions

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

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

Nov 23, 2021

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

UTAC Maroc

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

Sectors

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)

$ 13.50 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.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported EUR 12,000,000.00
Converted using 2021-11-23 exchange rate.

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EBRD website

Updated in EWS Mar 8, 2022

Disclosed by Bank Feb 24, 2022

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

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 bank provided information, the investment involves the provision of a EUR 12 million senior loan with a maturity of 7 years (including 2 years of grace period). The proceeds will be used to support the equipment acquisition related to the setting-up of the first automotive test centre in Morocco (and Africa).

FEV Group and UTAC Group are partnering to establish a joint-venture company (the "Borrower" or the "JV" or "ATC"), which will be the first automotive testing centre in Morocco (and Africa) with a comprehensive offering for various OEMs. Following the launch of Stellantis activities in Morocco in 2019 and the transfer of part of its gasoline powertrain development activities to Morocco, UTAC Group created UTAC Maroc, involved in the test tracks and other component testing and FEV Group created FEV North Africa, a company involved in the powertrain engineering and testing.

Under this JV, FEV North Africa and UTAC Maroc, each preserving their proprietary technologies, will have complementary businesses, where FEV North Africa will run its own powertrain test benches and chassis dyno and UTAC Maroc will be responsible for the test tracks and other component testing, together with events and training activities.

Investment Description

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

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Private Actor 1	Private Actor 1 Role	Private Actor 1 Sector	Relation	Private Actor 2	Private Actor 2 Role	Private Actor 2 Sector
-	-	-	-	FEV Group	Parent Company	-
-	-	-	-	UTAC Group	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.

Stephanie Azuelos
stephanie.azuelos@utac.com
Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry - BP 20212 - 91311 Montlhéry Cedex France

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can request information by emailing: accessinfo@ebrd.com or by using this electronic form: https://www.ebrd.com/eform/information-request

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EBRD

The Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the PCM, it may assess compliance with EBRD's own policies and procedures to prevent harm to the environment or communities or it may assist you in resolving the problem that led to the complaint through a dialogue with those implementing the project. Additionally, the PCM has the authority to recommend a project be suspended in the event that harm is imminent.

You can contact the PCM at: pcm@ebrd.com or you can submit a complaint online using an online form at: http://www.ebrd.com/eform/pcm/complaint_form?language=en

You can learn more about the PCM and how to file a complaint at: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/project-finance/project-complaint-mechanism.html