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Santiago, Chile/Washington, D.C., August 28, 2013
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will commit up to $50 million to help subscribe a new Copeval’s securitized bond in Chile that will support the company’s expansion and increase access to finance for farmers in the country.
Copeval is Chile’s leading agricultural input distributor, providing machinery, irrigation systems, and technical services. It also provides financing through harvest. The company reaches more than 30,000 farmers through its 27 branches across the country’s agricultural regions.
LarrainVial, one of Latin America’s biggest financial intermediation and advisory firms based in Chile, acted as financial advisor of Copeval in this transaction. The emission of securitized bonds will be managed by BCI Securitizadora.
“IFC’s financing will help consolidate Copeval’s position as Chile’s leading and most innovative agri-input distributor in Chile,” said Gonzalo Martino, Chairman of Copeval. “We welcome IFC’s unique global and technical expertise in supporting the agribusiness sector in emerging markets.”
Agriculture is the second-largest economic activity in Chile, with over 90 percent of the producers being small and medium farmers or enterprises. When operating in frontier and less developed rural regions, many of these farmers have few alternatives for technical assistance and financial support – a gap that Copeval has been helping to fill.
Copeval also sponsors programs to support small farmers in enhancing productivity, handling pesticides and treatment of plagues and diseases, implementing smarter irrigation services, as well as programs encouraging the integration of small producers into the agro-industrial global chain.
“Through this financing, IFC aims to support Copeval’s operations, in particular those in less developed rural areas,” said Oscar Chemerinski, IFC’s Director for Manufacturing, Agribusiness, and Services for Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. “This financing also reflects IFC’s commitment to support Chile’s agribusiness sector and to help consolidate the country as one of the global leading food exporters.”
Sebastian Cereceda, Vice President in the Corporate Finance Department in LarrainVial, noted: “We are proud to have facilitated the partnership between these two institutions that share the vision about the need to address the development gaps in the agricultural sector in Chile. Through a capital markets solution, this operation will contribute to the growth and development of thousands of Chilean farmers.”
IFC’s strategy in Chile focuses on promoting sustainable investments in key sectors of the economy which contribute to job creation, expansion of services, and to a more equitable growth. These sectors include agribusiness, tertiary education and vocational training, infrastructure, energy, and financial services that meet the needs of SMEs and low-income groups. As of the end of Fiscal Year 2013, IFC’s portfolio in Chile – both for its own account and mobilized from third parties –, amounted to more than $1 billion. For more information about IFC in Latin America and the Caribbean, visit:
www.ifc.org/lac
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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 more than 100 countries, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. In FY13, our investments climbed to an all-time high of nearly $25 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs and tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
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