Soufflet Corp

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Established over a century ago, the Soufflet Group (“Soufflet” or “Company”) is a well-diversified and vertically integrated agribusiness group in the wheat and barley value chains. It is France’s #1 grain originator and input distributor, one of France’s largest grain exporters, and the 2nd largest maltster in the world. The proposed investment is a Euro 50 million A-Loan (“the IFC Loan”) to Soufflet, a longstanding IFC client. This would be IFC’s 6th investment with Soufflet. IFC’s financing will support Soufflet’s working capital needs in focused countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asian (ECA) region, including Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Poland, Romania and Ukraine (“the Project”). The Soufflet malting division operates malting plants in all five countries, with the latest addition being Bulgaria. The agro division operations involved in grain procurement are in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Ukraine, where it operates warehouses and silos. Soufflet supports farmers by funding their inputs either directly or through in-kind pre-financing by providing agricultural inputs (e.g. seeds, fertilizers, crop protection products). IFC proceeds will be used to fund working capital needs of specific Soufflet Group subsidiaries. The proceed scope does not include facility infrastructures in the Project’s countries. IFC’s financing during the outbreak of COVID-19 is counter cyclical and will be channelled towards Soufflet’s agro supply chain (farmers, SMEs, etc.) to increase food security via higher competition, productivity and availability of crops.