ECCBC Green Loan

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Equatorial Coca Cola Bottling Company (“ECCBC” or “the company”), headquartered in Morocco, was founded in 1997 and is a bottling company for The Coca Cola Company (TCCC). ECCBC has been expanding over the years through acquisitions. Before its incorporation, the Company had been distributing TCCC products in West Africa since 1951, first in Equatorial Guinea and then in Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Cape Verde and the Gambia. The company is now distributing TCCC products in 13 African countries, including Morocco, Algeria, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Liberia, Gambia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Bissau Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe with the largest markets being Morocco and Algeria. ECCBC produces, commercializes, and distributes five categories of beverages: carbonated soft drinks (CSD), juices, water, energy drinks and malt. ECCBC is a vertically integrated company from own production and warehousing assets, distribution managed by ECCBC and third-party partners, and commercialization through 3 channels - local vendors, supermarkets, and restaurants. The company reaches 100+ million consumers through 200,000+ points of sales. The company has currently 27 production lines and seven bottling plants – three in Morocco and one each in Algeria, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, and Cape Verde at the time of this appraisal. The proposed investment is for a total of about €70million – senior loan of up to €53 million and up to €17  million loan (in US$ equivalent) from IFC as implementing entity for the Canada IFC Blended Finance Program (BCFP) - to support the company’s new investments and working capital requirements (“the Project”),  specifically for: (a)      Upgrade of a production line in ECCBC’s Fruital plant in Algeria (located in Zone Industrielle Rouiba, Algiers) - referred to as “Fruital” or “Algeria” plant”. A new CSD production line with a capacity of 45,000 bottles per hour (bph) to increase production and replace volume from an existing line. The new production line will have a 25% reduction in electricity consumption to produce replaced volume and a reduction in the utilization of raw materials (e.g., the process will facilitate plastic bottle light-weighting).(b)      New Packaged Drinking Water Line in ECCBC’s COBOMI plant in Morocco (within the Technopole of Mohammed V airport, on the outskirts of Casablanca) (referred to as “COBOMI” or “Morocco” plant). A new production line for water-based products, which will also replace an existing line with a capacity of 20,000 bph. The new line will significantly improve water efficiency and enable a reduction in plastic utilization compared to the existing line. (c)       Upgradation of coolers in Ghana, Algeria and other West African Countries. Investment in purchasing 25,000 coolers to replace old coolers at the point of sales, which will be 25% more energy efficient. (d)      Installation of solar panels in Ghana and Morocco plants. Solar panels with 0.63 MWp capacity on a 2,700 m2 rooftop in Phase-1 and 1.1 MWp of solar panels on a 5,000 m2 rooftop in the COBOMI plant in Morocco. Solar panels with 1 MWp capacity on a 6,000 m2 rooftop in Phase-1 and 0.4 MWp of solar panels in the Marrakesh plant in Morocco. Solar panel installation in Ghana plant.  (e)      Pilot installation of off-grid solar coolers in Ghana.The investment package will include a tranche for a Green Loan, subject to the review and recommended approval of an external reviewer.