COCAL_Bio

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The proposed investment consists of a USD40m A-Loan, in BRL equivalent, to Grupo Cocal (“Cocal”, “the company” or the “Group”), a Brazilian sugar & ethanol producer. Located in the Sao Paulo state, Cocal produces (i) sugar and ethanol from sugarcane and (ii) energy from sugarcane bagasse (energy co-generation). Cocal was established in 1980 in the city of Paraguaçu. The Group currently owns and operates two sugar mills in Paraguaçu and Narandiba in the Western region of the Sao Paulo state with an installed capacity to process 9 million tons of sugarcane per year, employing 4,900 people. Cocal does manual planting and 98% of their harvesting operations are mechanized. Cocal owns 90% of the sugarcane it processes, with the remaining amount coming from third party suppliers. The Group also owns two co-generation facilities adjacent to each of its two mills and generated 450,000 MWh in FY19, having sold 388,000 MWh to the grid. The proposed transaction aims to support Cocal’s 2020/2021 investment program consisting of: (i) a biogas producing plant that will provide green fuel alternatives to the Group’s fleet as well as energy to the grid; (ii) sugarcane replanting; and (iii) upgrades to increase operating and energy efficiency.