Washington, D.C., August 24, 2005—
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, will provide a $10 million loan to Odebrecht Servicos no Exterior, a wholly owned subsidiary of Construtora Norberto Odebrecht of Brazil. The financing will be used for infrastructure improvements in the Luanda Sul urban development project.
The project aims to develop idle land in Angola’s war-torn capital by providing water treatment and supply, sanitation, electric power, public lighting, and roads. Odebrecht Servicos no Exterior has been developing the infrastructure components since the beginning of the program.
“IFC is delighted to help a leading Brazilian firm expand its operations in a frontier country. Our investment provides competitive long-term financing, which is difficult to obtain in Angola,” said Dimitris Tsitsiragos, IFC’s Director for Global Manufacturing and Services.
Richard Ranken, IFC’s Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, added, “This $10 million loan is IFC’s largest investment in Angola to date. It underlines our strong commitment to support the country’s recovery from civil war.”
Luiz Mameri, President of Odebrecht Angola, noted, “We are proud to take this new step in our long term partnership with IFC. The fact that IFC has chosen our company for this pioneer investment in Angola’s private sector highlights the high quality of our engagement in Angola.”
Founded in 1945 in the northeastern state of Bahia, Construtora Norberto Odebrecht provides state-of-the-art technical expertise in the design and construction of large-scale infrastructure projects throughout Brazil and in most other South American countries, Central America, Europe, the United States, and Africa. It is a subsidiary of Odebrecht S.A., one of Brazil’s largest private sector conglomerates and the country’s leading service exporter. Construtora Norberto Odebrecht has been engaged in Angola for the last 20 years as an investor in mining, real state, and other projects.
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 2004, 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 2004 was $17.9 billion for its own account and $5.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.