Olam International has entered into a $175m five-year loan agreement with IFC, a World Bank Group unit, to fund its working capital and capital expenditure requirements for four of its food processing facilities in Nigeria and India.
The funds will be used for Hemarus sugar mill and spice processing facilities in India and sesame hulling and Crown Flour Mill facilities in Nigeria.
The facilities in India and Nigeria will help in generating rural employment and creating market opportunities for small-hold farmers to sell their crops.
Olam Group CFO N. Muthukumar said: "This latest investment strengthens our partnership with IFC. These food processing facilities, located in India and Nigeria, help generate local employment and provide a ready buyer at market prices for farmers in the communities.
"Olam's focus on inclusive growth, enabling economic prosperity and social and environmental sustainability in developing nations, is a perfect fit with IFC's mandate."
IFC manufacturing agribusiness and services director Alzbeta Klein said: "We are pleased to support Olam's strategy of enhancing value for stakeholders by investing in long- term midstream processing assets that build on the core soft commodity supply chain.
Through this investment by IFC, Olam will continue to support small-holder farmers in India and Nigeria, who supply commodities to its processing facilities."
In January 2010, Olam bought Crown Flour Mill, which was considered as one of the three largest wheat millers in Nigeria.
Olam expanded the facility in 2011 with the inclusion of a semolina mill and a flour mill in Lagos. The expansion brought the total capacity of the facility to 2,380 tons per day, reported world-grain.com.
