Omarsa Ecuador

completed

The proposed investment consists of an A loan of up to US$10 million to Operadora y Procesadora de Productos Marinos, Omarsa S.A ("Omarsa" or the “Company”). Established in 1977, OMARSA has been producing and exporting shrimp for 38 years and is currently Ecuador’s third largest shrimp exporter. The Company has grown into one of the leading vertically integrated producers of premium quality conventional and organic shrimp in the world. Its operations span R&D, breeding and hatcheries, farming, value-added processing, and commercialization and export of a diversified range of value-added shrimp products. The Company owns two hatcheries, three shrimp farms totaling 3,018 ha in the Gulf of Guayaquil which produce roughly one third of the shrimp it processes at its processing and cold store facility in Duran. The Company is certified to multiple internationally- recognized sustainability and food safety standards including Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), British Retail Consortium (BRC), Organic and GlobalGAP as described below. The Company currently employs approximately 500 people on its farms and another 1,700 in its processing plant. The IFC loan will finance: i) capital expenditures for the expansion of its Puná shrimp farm; ii) upgrades of its two other farms; iii) expansion and improvements to its processing facility; iv) incremental working capital needs; and v) refinancing of existing debt (the Project).