Bacao S.A.S. (FMO-62145)

Regions
  • Latin America and Caribbean
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Colombia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO)
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."
Borrower
Bacao S.A.S
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
  • Water and Sanitation
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.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 42.00 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 @ FMO website

Updated in EWS Oct 2, 2024

Disclosed by Bank Mar 21, 2023

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 the FMO, the funding objective is that the FMO and IFC will jointly provide USD 42 mln in debt financing to the project. Funds will be used to: i) complete the investments in the approximately 3800 hectares of plantations and related infrastructure; and ii) cover the negative cashflow from operations during the scale-up of the project.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

According to the FMO, this project concerns an E&S B+ categorized investment, as the company engages in primary production of cocoa beans (own operations and a supply chain) which comes with potential adverse environmental or social impacts that are beyond the site boundaries and might in part be irreversible, although they can be prevented and addressed through relevant mitigation measures.

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

According to the FMO website, FMO and IFC will jointly provide USD 42 mln in debt financing to the project, the 23 of july of 2024, the FMO only has finnanced a total amount of 11 million USD

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.

According to the FMO, Bacao S.A.S. was created in 2016 and owns approximately 5,000 hectares. It will develop 3,720 hectares of cacao using best-in-class agriculture design and practices, of which approximately 1,752 hectares are already planted. Bacao S.A.S, is the main Colombian subsidiary of Andean Cacao GmbH whose vision is to catalyse change to the cacao sector by providing a scalable sustainable production model (productive, profitable, eco-friendly, and inclusive) that can satisfy the growing need for regenerative and carbon-neutral cacao.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Bacao S.A.S 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.

Website customer/investment
https://www.andeancacao.com/

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

As part of FMO's ex-ante disclosure (disclosure of transactions before contracting), you can send requests or questions for additional information to: disclosure@fmo.nl

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF FMO

Communities who believe they will be negatively affected by a project funded by the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) may be able to file a complaint with the Independent Complaints Mechanism, which is the joint independent accountability mechanism of the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) and the German Investment Corporation (KfW). A complaint can be filed in writing, by email, post, or online. The complaint can be filed in English or any other language of the complainant. The Independent Complaints Mechanism is comprised of a three-member Independent Expert Panel and it can provide either problem-solving, compliance review or both, in either order. Additional information about this accountability mechanism, including a guide and template for filing a complaint, can be found at: https://www.fmo.nl/independent-complaints-mechanism

How it works

How it works