In Tbilisi:
Tamar Barbakadze, IFC
Phone: +995 32 223 43 00/01/02
In Istanbul:
Basak Ulgen, IFC
Phone: + (90 212) 385 3000
E-mail: bulgen@ifc.org
In Washington, D.C.:
Elizabeth Price, IFC
Phone: +1 202 473-4645
Tbilisi, Georgia, January 12, 2015
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is helping
Georgia’s sole glass bottle manufacturer and leading employer, Mina, take advantage of favorable market opportunities and increased demand by expanding its production lines and boosting growth.
IFC is providing a senior loan of $8.5 million and mobilizing a parallel senior loan of EUR 5 million from Rabobank for Mina’s expansion. The company produces glass bottles for the beverages market, a priority export sector for Georgia, which currently largely relies on imported bottles. The investment is set to generate significant corporate income taxes for the state budget and safeguard jobs in an area with limited employment opportunities.
Mina is owned by Anadolu Cam, the glass packaging arm of Sisecam, a leading Turkish producer of glass products worldwide.
Guray Alpkaya, CEO of Rabobank AŞ
in Istanbul said: “Rabobank is pleased to be able to help long-term client Anadolu Cam reinforce its leadership in the region’s glass manufacturing sector. The company is an excellent example of supporting regional cooperation, job creation, and economic development.”
The project is also expected to help enhance Mina’s competitiveness through renovation and equipment upgrades, along with energy and resource efficiency investments.
“This investment is part of IFC’s strategy to support sectors where Georgia has comparative advantages and which have the potential to create jobs, benefit the economy and expand exports. It also supports South-South investment, which is a strategic priority for IFC because of its development impact,” said Thomas Lubeck, IFC Regional Manager for the South Caucasus.
IFC made its first investment in Mina in 1999 to help increase exports, enhance energy efficiency, and raise environmental practices to international standards.
Georgia became an IFC member in 1995. Since then, IFC has invested $810 million in 60 projects across various sectors and supported regional projects developed in the country. IFC has also implemented a number of advisory projects focused on the development of the private sector.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. Working with private enterprises in about 100 countries, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. In FY14, we provided more than $22 billion in financing to improve lives in developing countries and tackle the most urgent challenges of development. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
About Rabobank
Rabobank Group is a Netherlands based, international financial services provider operating on the basis of cooperative principles with a predominant focus on providing all finance services in the domestic market. Internationally the Group's focus is on food and agriculture. The organisation has
approximately 55,000
employees (fte) worldwide and operates in 40 countries. Rabobank has a long presence in Turkey in the form of a representative office and from 2014 started operations via a full banking license
.
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