WASHINGTON, D.C., May 4, 2005
—The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector lending arm of the World Bank Group, will provide a $75 million financing package to TogliattiAzot Joint Stock Company, consisting of a $30 million A loan for IFC’s account and up to a $45 million B loan for the account of the syndicate banks.
Located in the city of Togliatti, TogliattiAzot was commissioned as a joint American-Soviet industrial project in 1979 to utilize the Soviet Union’s abundant supply of natural gas for the production of ammonia. The company was privatized in 1992 and is owned locally. It is the largest Russian and one of the largest global producers of trade ammonia as well as being an important global producer of trade methanol and urea. IFC’s investment will be used for the construction of a second methanol line, which will increase TogliattiAzot’s methanol capacity to 1 million tons per year.
Mr. Rashad Kaldany, IFC’s Director of Oil, Gas, Mining and Chemicals, said, “This project will enable the Company to further diversify its operations into higher value-added products where margins are more attractive, enabling TogliattiAzot to better serve the needs of its domestic clients and to increase its export earnings. The project will also play a critical environmental role since the methanol operations will consume more than 160,000 tpa of the carbon dioxide waste gas generated in the ammonia production”.
Mr. Edward Nassim, IFC’s Director for Central and Eastern Europe, adds, “IFC has increased its investments in the Russian Federation in recent years, in particular with locally owned companies. We are now looking towards investments that will contribute to the growth of less developed regions of Russia or that support sectors with significant development impact, such as adding value to the country’s natural resources, and building up and renewing Russia’s infrastructure. This project will work towards this objective as TogliattiAzot produces products that are higher up in the natural resources value chain”.
Mr. Vladimir Makhlai, President of TogliattiAzot, said, “TogliattiAzot stands out as an independent Russian company that has consistently reinvested its earnings in its own operations. This has fueled our rapid growth in the international chemicals sector. We consider the IFC to be a reliable partner in our business and the IFC’s resources and worldwide expertise are key to our future international growth strategies”.
TogliattiAzot is the largest ammonia producer in the FSU, with approximately 7.6% of the world market in trade ammonia. The company owns and operates 7 ammonia producing plants and 2 methanol producing plants, together with ancillary facilities, in the city of Togliatti, Samara Region in the Russian Federation.
The mission of IFC
(www.ifc.org)
is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FY04, IFC has committed more than $44 billion of its own funds and arranged $23 billion in syndications for 3,143 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s worldwide committed portfolio as of FY04 was $17.9 billion for its own account and $5.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
Russia joined IFC in 1993. Since then, IFC has committed $1.8 billion, including $200 million in syndicated loans, to finance 92 projects across a variety of sectors. IFC’s portfolio in Russia stands at $1.3 billion. Currently, Russia is the second largest country exposure after Brazil in IFC’s global portfolio. IFC’s investments spread across the country’s most important sectors including banking, leasing, housing finance, infrastructure, mining, agribusiness, pulp and paper, construction materials, oil and gas, telecommunications, information technologies, retail, and health care.
