NIGERIA — Engee Manufacturing Limited, has secured a US$39 million financing package from the IFC and Ida to finance the construction of a Continuous Polymerisation PET Resin plant in Nigeria’s Ogun state
The $39 million financing package includes a $24 million senior ‘A’ loan from IFC and a $15 million subordinated loan from the International Development Association’s Private Sector Window Blended Finance Facility.
Engee is a leading Nigeria manufacturer of PET resin used in packaging for soft drinks, bottled water, and other household and pharmaceutical products
Acording to a statement from IFC, the new Engee PET plant would source more than 20 percent of its raw materials from local, waste plastics, strengthening Nigeria’s recycling and manufacturing sectors.
Nigeria has no efficient disposal, recycling and waste management system for its plastic and non-plastic waste, with most solid waste ending up in landfills, drainage, beaches and water bodies.
Engee’s new Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plant will however double the number of plastic bottles recycled in Nigeria through a process of collecting, cleaning, and processing up to 30,000 tons of used plastic bottles every year.
The new plant is expected to be fully operational within the next 24 months, IFC revealed.
“IFC’s financing for the first continuous polymerization plant in Nigeria will support our efforts to grow the country’s packaging for drinking water, beverages and pharmaceutical industries,” Alexander Gendis, Managing Director, Engee Manufacturing Limited, said.
Gendis further revealed that the plant will be only the second such plant anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The plant and process are enough to fast-track the evolution of plastics recycling in the country and support jobs along the recycling value chain,” Gendis noted.
IFC noted that it will also provide Engee with advisory services support to implement a plastics waste recycling program specifically for bottle-grade resins.
It further noted that the investment with Engee underscores its growing commitment to Nigeria, with investments focused on sectors including healthcare, agribusiness, manufacturing, technology, and SME financing.
In July, IFC advanced a US$50 million loan to Nigeria to help the commercial bank support Nigeria’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in navigating the economic challenges of COVID-19.
IFC provided a similar loan amount to Nigeria’s FCMB bank to help the bank continue supporting businesses during the challenging COVID-19 period.
Prior to supporting FCMB and Access Bank, IFC had provided Zenith Bank with a US$100 million loan to help the Bank increase support to clients whose cash flows have been disrupted by challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
IFC has thus invested more than 250 million in the Nigeria’s economy during a period of 6 months, with significant portion of the funds being injected into the country’s banking sector to support SMEs.
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