Pharmakina SA

hold

 The proposed IFC loan of up to US$8.5 million is to support Pharmakina SARL’s (https://www.pharmakina.com, the Company or “Pharmakina”) modernization plan. The proceeds will be used for (i) modernizing and upgrading existing processing facilities, (ii) putting up additional processing capacity (i.e., extraction, technical, and pharmaceutical refineries), (iii) working capital, and (iv) refinancing its existing bank loan, (the “Project”). The project is expected to increase Pharmakina’s production capacity by ~31% (to 170 tonnes of quinine-related products (Quinine Alkaloid Anhydrous)) over the next two years. Founded in 1942 and previously called Congokina, Pharmakina is the sole manufacturer of quinine (the active agent in anti-malaria drugs) in Africa based in Bukavu, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Company has a single processing plant that includes (i) an extraction plant that produces quinine sulfate, quinine hydrochloride, and dihydrochloride from cinchona tree bark for further processing into pharmaceutical-grade quinine, (ii) a tableting plant (capacity 70 tons yearly) and an injectables plant (capacity 12 tons units/year). Pharmakina owns cinchona tree plantations in Kabare, Walungu, and Kalehe in South Kivu and near Lubero in the North Kivu provinces.The Company retains a network of over 100 distributors throughout the DRC to sell its finished treatment products.