Bacao (IFC-46616)

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.
Specific Location
Cabuyaro, Barranca de Upia, Villanueva
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
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."
Voting Date
Oct 31, 2023
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
BACAO SAS
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 Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 21.00 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)
$ 21.00 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)
$ 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.
Bank Documents
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Oct 13, 2023

Disclosed by Bank Sep 5, 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.

As stated by the IFC, the proposed investment consists of a financing package of up to US$42 million to Bacao SAS to finance the development of approximately 3,800 hectares of cacao plantations and post-harvesting facility in the Meta region of Colombia.

Bacao is an agroforestry cacao company that seeks to produce sustainable cacao by creating inclusive and climate-smart productive ecosystems that will not only contribute to rehabilitate degraded lands but also benefit local communities.

The cacao will be supplied to Mars through a long-term off-take agreement. As of October 2022, 1,300 ha of cacao have been planted (150 ha are already productive), and additional 750 hectares are planted with shade trees, ready to be planted with cocoa seedlings. A small percentage of cocoa beans from local suppliers (less than 5%) are currently processed in the post-harvesting facility. These smallholder farmers also receive technical assistance from the Project. The Project employs about 360 workers and is expected to create 700 direct jobs. The closest towns are Cabuyaro (population 5,000), Barranca de Upia (pop. 5,000) and Villanueva (pop. 30,000).

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

As stated on the project disclosure page, the IFC will provide an up to US$ 10.5 million senior loan for its own account and mobilize an up to US$ 10.5 million from the IFC-Canada Blended Finance Climate Program and up to US$21 million loan from parallel lender(s) for the development of 3,800 hectares (ha) of cacao plantations and a post-harvesting facility in Cabuyaro, Department of Meta, Colombia (https://goo.gl/maps/pqrDrFKGPPAUqvjQ8)  

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, BACAO S.A.S. is a subsidiary of Andean Cacao GmbH (https://www.andeancacao.com/), a company with current shareholders being Mars Nederland B.V., ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Ltd., Amazonas-AI Fund SCS, SICAV-FIAR and 12Tree GmbH. BACAO was established in 2016 and is focused on the production and supply of sustainably produced cacao in Colombia.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
12Tree GmbH Investor Finance invests in Andean Cacao GmbH Client Agriculture and Forestry
Andean Cacao GmbH Client Agriculture and Forestry contracts with Mars, Incorporated Buyer Industry and Trade
ECOM Agroindustrial Corp Ltd Investor Agriculture and Forestry invests in Andean Cacao GmbH 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 - Bacao S.A.S.:

Xavier Sagnieres - CEO
Email: xsagnieres@andeancacao.com
Address: Carrera 9 # 80-45, of. 301
Website: https://www.andeancacao.com/

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