LBX Loan (IFC-43672)

Regions
  • East Asia and Pacific
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • China
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
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
LBX PHARMACY CHAIN JSC
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)
$ 142.00 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.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 142.00 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.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 300.00 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 Aug 12, 2024

Disclosed by Bank Aug 13, 2020

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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 bank document, " Laobaixing Pharmacy Chain Joint Stock Company (“LBX” or “the Company”) operates in Hunan, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Anhui and Inner Mongolia. The Company has been listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange since 2015. The Company plans to add over 2,500 stores as well as 5 new logistics centers within the next 3 years (The Project). The proposed IFC investment is a senior loan of RMB 1,000 million (approximately $142 million equivalent) to support the expansion of stores and the new logistics centers. The proposed financing will support LBX’s expansion of stores and logistics network in the frontier regions of China. Targeted provinces of expansion include Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Hubei, Anhui, Henan, Gansu, Guangxi and Ningxia".

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

 "Total Project cost is estimated at US$ 300 million. The proposed IFC investment is an A loan of up to RMB 1 billion (approximately US$142 million equivalent)".

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.

Laobaixing Pharmacy Chain Joint Stock Company (“LBX” or “the Company”) is one of China’s largest pharmaceutical retailers with a network of over 5,000 stores spanning 22 provinces in China. LBX’s branding and pricing are focused on low- to middle-income consumers, as it aims to provide high quality and reliable products at the lowest possible price point to the consumer. Its operations are rooted in frontier regions including Hunan, Shaanxi, Guangxi, Anhui and Inner Mongolia. The Company has been listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange since 2015.

The proposed financing will support LBX’s expansion of stores and logistics network in the frontier regions of China. Targeted provinces of expansion include Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Hubei, Anhui, Henan, Gansu, Guangxi and Ningxia.

 The Sponsor, Zilong Xie and his wife Xiulan Chen collectively own 33.96% of the shares, while 41.72% is held by public shareholders. Two prominent PE funds, Primavera Capital and FountainVest Partners, jointly acquired 24.32% in the Company from EQT Partners in November 2019.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Laobaixing Pharmacy Chain Joint Stock Company Client -
FountainVest Partners Investor - invests in Laobaixing Pharmacy Chain Joint Stock Company Client -
Primavera Capital Investor - invests in Laobaixing Pharmacy Chain Joint Stock Company Client -

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.

1/  The Project Contact

Laobaixing Pharmacy Chain Joint Stock Company
Shini Feng
Board Secretary
+86 731 8403 5189
ir@lbxdrugs.com
No. 808, Qingzhuhu Road, Kaifu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province
http://www.lbxdrugs.com/

2/ IFC Contact

General IFC Inquiries
IFC Communications
2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20433
Telephone: 202-473-3800
Fax: 202-974-4384

3/ Local Access for Project Documentation

 "Environmental documents will be made accessible to locally affected communities".

*There is no information being disclosed at this stage of the project*

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

How it works

How it works