Favorita Fruit Company Ltd.

completed

Favorita Fruit Company (Favorita or the company), a holding company, is one of the leading banana growers and exporters in Ecuador. The company operates other wholly-owned subsidiaries whose activities include trading and shipping bananas, producing cardboard boxes and plastics, providing fumigation services, and importing fertilizers. It has requested IFC’s assistance in financing a corporate-wide investment program which involves:- expansion of existing fertilizers storage capacity at its port; - construction of a hydroelectric plant; - replacement and modernization of equipment and machinery; - refinancing short and medium term debtThe project is aimed to: - eliminate material flow bottlenecks and inefficiencies through expanding and consolidating the capacity of Favorita’s industrial and service businesses; - continue reducing operating costs while increasing reliability of energy supply; - carry out needed maintenance investments and equipment upgrades to maintain the company’s competitive position in the global market; and strengthen Favorita’s financial structure in order to firm-up its banana/overall operations in Ecuador.