IFC invests in PAN food unit

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has invested 6.5 million USD in the Pan Pacific Corp's (PAN) expansion in the agricultural and food sector, the IFC announced on January 22.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World BankGroup, has invested 6.5 million USD in the Pan Pacific Corp's (PAN)expansion in the agricultural and food sector, the IFC announced onJanuary 22.

IFC will hold about 5 percent of Pan Pacific. Thefinancing aims to help the company realise its long-term strategy ofacquiring and consolidating more agricultural and food businesses. PanPacific plans to adopt good environmental and social practices in thesebusinesses to ensure sustainability.

"Pan Pacific welcomes IFCamong our group of extraordinary international and domestic investors,"said Michael Rosen, Pan Pacific's CEO, adding that the organisation'ssupport will help his company become a leading regional agriculture andfood company.

The agricultural sector, including fishery andforestry, is growing fast in Vietnam and accounts for more than 20percent of the country's GDP and 28 percent of export revenue. Inaddition to financing, IFC will help Pan Pacific pursue sustainabledevelopment by adopting IFC Performance Standards and the World BankGroup Environment, Health and Safety Guidelines.

IFC will also help the corporation raise corporate-governance and business-transparency standards.

"Vietnam has a comparative advantage for primary agriculturalproduction and IFC supports the sustainable development of this sector,"said Vipul Prakash, IFC's Director of Client Services for East Asia andthe Pacific.

"Our financing and advice will help Pan Pacificset benchmarks for responsible production in line with internationalindustry best practices in Vietnam,” he added.

IFC hassignificantly scaled up its investments in agribusiness over the lastfew years. In 2014, it invested 4 billion USD across the agribusinesssupply chain – from farm to retail – to help boost production, increaseliquidity, improve logistics and distribution and expand access tocredit for small farmers.

At the end of the fiscal year, IFC's overall agribusiness portfolio stood at 6.1 billion USD.

PanPacific was established in 1993 and listed on the Hochiminh StockExchange. The company increased its charter capital to more than 200billion VND in 2013 from 250 million VND in 1998.-VNA

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