Bacao

pending

 BACAO S.A.S. (the “Company” or “BACAO”) is a subsidiary of Andean Cacao GmbH (https://www.andeancacao.com/), a company with current shareholders being Mars Nederland B.V., ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Ltd., Amazonas-AI Fund SCS, SICAV-FIAR and 12Tree GmbH. BACAO was established in 2016 and is focused on the production and supply of sustainably produced cacao in Colombia. IFC will provide an up to US$ 10.5 million senior loan for its own account and mobilize an up to US$ 10.5 million from the IFC-Canada Blended Finance Climate Program and up to US$21 million loan from parallel lender(s) for the development of 3,800 hectares (ha) of cacao plantations and a post-harvesting facility in Cabuyaro, Department of Meta, Colombia (the “Project”) (https://goo.gl/maps/pqrDrFKGPPAUqvjQ8)  The cacao will be supplied to Mars through a long-term off-take agreement. As of October 2022, 1,300 ha of cacao have been planted (150 ha are already productive), and additional 750 hectares are planted with shade trees, ready to be planted with cocoa seedlings. A small percentage of cocoa beans from local suppliers (less than 5%) are currently processed in the post-harvesting facility. These smallholder farmers also receive technical assistance from the Project.  The Project employs about 360 workers and is expected to create 700 direct jobs. The closest towns are Cabuyaro (population 5,000), Barranca de Upia (pop. 5,000) and Villanueva (pop. 30,000).