DIGRANISA (IFC-41276)

Countries
  • Nicaragua
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."
Borrower
DISTRIBUIDORA DE GRANOS DE NICARAGUA SA
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 Amount (USD)
Not Disclosed
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 Feb 2, 2023

Disclosed by Bank Jan 11, 2023


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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.

The proposed IFC investment is to support Distribuidora de Granos de Nicaragua S.A. (“Digranisa” or the “Company”) for the expansion of its Robusta coffee production in Nicaragua. Digranisa is fully owned subsidiary of Mercon Coffee Group (“Mercon” or the “Sponsor”) and a sister company of CISA S.A. (Mercon Nicaragua) which introduced Robusta coffee in Nicaragua in 2005. Mercon is a vertically integrated global, green coffee supplier.  The proposed financing consists of a US$10mn financing package which includes an IFC A Loan of up to US$5mn and a loan of up to US$5mn from IFC acting as the implementing entity of IDA20 Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility to: (i) refinance existing long-term debt, and (ii) finance the next two years of operations, which includes the expansion and maintenance of its Robusta operations (the “Project”). Digranisa has established four Robusta farms since 2016, totaling 2,002 hectares (ha), of which 1,273ha are planted (660ha are set-aside). The four farms are La Esperancita, San Antonio, San Jose and La Palmira. Digranisa is planning to expand its Robusta farming operations to 2,548ha by 2026. This would be IFC’s first investment in Digranisa but its fourth investment with Mercon Group, following IFC participation in a two-year revolving trade facility in 2017 (Project #40321 GWFP Mercon), 2019 (https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/42454/gwfp-mercon-2019) and in 2021 (https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/45105/gwfp-mercon-2021). Mercon’s environmental and social (E&S) performance against IFC’s Performance Standards requirements and implementation of E&S Action Plan (ESAP) in previous investments has been judged satisfactory. The implementation of some ESAP items agreed upon in March 2021, have been delayed due to availability of technical capacity, especially from a social standpoint.

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.

While all Performance Standards are applicable to this investment, IFC’s environmental and social due diligence indicates that the investment will have impacts which must be managed in a manner consistent with the following Performance Standards

PS 1 - Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts
PS 2 - Labor and Working Conditions
PS 3 - Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention
PS 4 - Community Health, Safety and Security
PS 6 - Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resourc

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

No information on investment

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.

Distribuidora de Granos de Nicaragua S.A. (“Digranisa”) is fully owned subsidiary of Mercon Coffee Group (“Mercon” or the “Sponsor”) and a sister company of CISA S.A. (Mercon Nicaragua) which introduced Robusta coffee in Nicaragua in 2005. 

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Mercon Coffee Corporation 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.

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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