Ara Tiendas Green Loan (IFC-47944)

Countries
  • Colombia
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
JERONIMO MARTINS COLOMBIA S A S
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 100.00 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 @ IFC website

Updated in EWS May 31, 2024

Disclosed by Bank May 29, 2024

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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.

Ara Tiendas (“Ara”, “Ara Tiendas, “Jeronimo Martins Colombia SAS” or the “Company”) is the Colombian subsidiary of Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA (“Jeronimo Martins”, “JM”, the “Group” or the “Sponsor”), a Portuguese food retailer that has 5729 stores across Colombia, Portugal, and Poland. Jeronimo Martins Colombia SAS has been an IFC client since 2019 (https://disclosures.ifc.org/project-detail/ESRS/40643/ara-tiendas-i). The proposed repeat transaction with Jeronimo Martins Colombia SAS consists of an up to USD100 million A-loan to partly finance the construction of two distribution centers (the “Project”) in Cali and Cota, Colombia.As of December 2023, Ara had 1290 stores and 14 distribution centers throughout four zones of Colombia, namely North, Central, West and Antioquia Zone. The construction of the two new distribution centers is already underway, with operations expected to begin in April 2024 for Cali and January 2025 for Cota. Ara's new distribution centers are located on industrial lands acquired through a willing buyer willing seller basis, following the provisions of each municipality’s territorial plan.

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

According to the IFC, the proposed repeat transaction with Jeronimo Martins Colombia SAS consists of an up to USD100 million A-loan to partly finance the construction of two distribution centers (the “Project”) in Cali and Cota, Colombia.

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 IFC, Ara Tiendas (“Ara”, “Ara Tiendas, “Jeronimo Martins Colombia SAS” or the “Company”) is the Colombian subsidiary of Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA (“Jeronimo Martins”, “JM”, the “Group” or the “Sponsor”), a Portuguese food retailer that has 5729 stores across Colombia, Portugal, and Poland. Jeronimo Martins Colombia SAS has been an IFC client since 2019 

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Jeronimo Martins Colombia, S.A.S. 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.

Contact Person: Francisco Pereira dos Santos
Address:  Calle 100 #7- 33 Piso 12 Edificio Capital Tower Bogota
Email:  Francisco.pereira.santos@jeronimo-martins.com  
Phone:  +573233220169

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