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Packaging moves forward in Central Asia
EBRD lends $2.5 million to plastic container lid maker Bericap Kazakhstan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending $2.5 million
to Bericap Kazakhstan LLC to help it build a factory to manufacture container
tops for the Central Asian market. Bericap Kazakhstan LLC is part of the
Bericap Group of companies, one of the leading plastic container top
manufacturers in the world. The investment will help Kazakhstan diversify its
economy away from dependence on oil and gas and, by lowering the cost of
plastic container tops, stimulate smaller food-production companies to enter
and compete in a fast-growing market. The Bank’s experience across the region
will also help the Bericap Group in its plans to build a regional presence in
Central Asia.
Bericap Kazakhstan has a five-year track record of supplying a wide range of
plastic container tops to customers in the drinks, oils, pharmaceutical,
chemical and liquid food industries in all five countries of Central Asia, as
well as Azerbaijan and Georgia. Half of the company’s total sales are in
Kazakhstan, where Bericap Kazakhstan was established in 2001. The company was
initially envisaged as a distribution hub for Bericap Group’s sales in Central
Asia, but demand has proved so strong that a production facility was also set
up in 2003. Bericap Kazakhstan, which produces 300 million caps a year to
supply 64 companies, now plans a new purpose-built factory in an industrial
park on the edge of the capital, Almaty.
By producing caps locally and removing import costs, this seven-year loan
development will not only increase the number of small and medium sized
clients able to buy plastic container tops and enter the market but also raise
business standards and practices. The new factory will bring environmental,
health and safety standards up to best international standards.
Bericap Kazakhstan is 71 per cent per cent owned by Bericap Kapak Sanayi Ltd,
the group’s Turkish manufacturing base and holding company for the group’s
expansion into Central Asia and Africa. Bericap Turkey is fully owned by
Bericap Holding GmbH, the group’s ultimate holding, based in Germany, which
holds the remaining 29 per cent of Bericap Kazakhstan.
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