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EBRD finances Georgian hazelnut producer Argonut
The EBRD is supporting Georgian hazelnut processing company Argonut Ltd. with
a financing package worth $4 million consisting of a loan and the acquisition
of a 15 per cent equity stake in the company.
The EBRD investment will be used to complete the construction of a
state-of-the-art hazelnut processing plant in Zugdidi, Western Georgia. Once
operational, the factory is expected to employ up to 250 people in a region
where employment is scarce and incomes are lower than average. Local
agricultural producers will benefit from the company’s intention to buy raw
materials directly from neighbouring farmers.
The plant is being built to best modern international standards. This, plus a
wide range of high-quality products, will support Argonuts’ plans to expand
sales to foreign markets, especially within the European Union.
Michael Davey, EBRD Director for the Caucasus, Moldova and Belarus, said the
Bank was looking forward to supporting Argonuts’ goal of becoming a leading
hazelnut supplier. Local workers and farmers will benefit from the opening of
the plant. The project demonstrates EBRD’s commitment to the development of
Georgia’s rural areas.
Roman Pipia, one of the co-owners of Argonut, said he was delighted to
establish a close partnership with the EBRD and to expand it in the future.
Argonut will successfully demonstrate that nuts from Georgia can sell on the
European market on basis of their quality, he added.
The EBRD finance comes under the Bank’s Early Transition Countries initiative,
which was launched in 2004 to stimulate market activity in the Bank’s
lowest-income countries of operations by using a streamlined approach to
financing more and smaller projects, mobilising more investment, and
encouraging economic reform. In Georgia the EBRD to date has invested almost
€400 million in more than 60 projects across the country.
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