RF - Agricover Credit IFN

Overview
Project Summary Document
Environmental and Social Documentation
Procurement
Complaints

Overview

This project was approved as part of the Bank's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To avoid delays to the delivery of this project, the Bank's President granted a deviation from the ordinary timelines for PSD disclosure, as contemplated by Section V of the Directive on Access to Information. Details of the Bank's response to COVID-19, and this deviation, can be found on our website.

EUR 5 million unsecured multicurrency (EUR or RON) loan to Agricover Credit IFN SA under the Resilience Framework.

Project ID 52067

Status Complete

Location

Romania

Business Sector

Financial Institutions

Notice Type

Private

Project timeline

Exploratory
Passed Concept Review
Passed Structure Review
Passed Final Review
Board Approved
Signed
Implementing
Completed

Company Contact Information

Denisa Manoliu
credit@agricover.ro
https://agricover.ro/finantare/

Project ID 52067

Status Complete

Location

Romania

Business Sector

Financial Institutions

Notice Type

Private

Environmental Category

Approval Date

02 Jun 2020

Disclosure date

10 Jun 2020

As permitted by paragraph 2.6 of Section III of the Access to Information Policy, disclosure of this PSD was deferred in accordance with paragraph 1.4.4 of the Directive on Access to Information.

As per section 1.4.2 (iii) of the Directive on Access to Information: "For Projects approved by Bank management where the Board of Directors has delegated the approval authority, the PSD shall be disclosed at the start of the relevant no-objection notification period to a member country of the Bank in accordance with Article 13 (iii) of the Agreement Establishing the EBRD."

RF - Agricover Credit IFN (Romanian) (PDF, 0.73MB)

Project description

EUR 5 million unsecured multicurrency (EUR or RON) loan to Agricover Credit IFN SA under the Resilience Framework.

Project objectives

The project will strengthen the company's funding position and will allow it to: i) pursue growth strategy aimed at assisting smaller farmers; ii) continue providing support to agri-business SME clients and thus reduce the risk profile of the end-borrowers. The EBRD financing will provide Agricover Credit IFN with additional comfort supporting its lending plan to the agribusiness SMEs in Romania.

Transition impact

ETI Score:60

project contributes to the objectives of the Resilience Framework, supporting the "competitive" and "resilient" transition qualities.

Resilient: The client retains solvency and remains an active and effective market player.
Competitive: Evolution of the client's new commercial lending at least in line with the market and comparable players.

Client information

AGRICOVER CREDIT IFN SA

Agricover Credit IFN is an existing EBRD client. The company was established in Romania in June 2008 as a non-banking financial institution specialised in financing of the local agricultural sector. Its major shareholder is Agricover Holding SA (99.999%; the Group), a leading player in the Romanian agricultural sector. The Group is ultimately controlled by its founder, Mr. Jabbar Kanani. In late 2017, EBRD injected RON 32 million (EUR 7 million equivalent) in the Group's capital for 12.7% stake and in 2018 approved the first loan to Agricover Credit IFN (EUR 15 million in RON equivalent, in two tranches).

EBRD Finance Summary

EUR 5,000,000.00

Senior unsecured multi-currency (EUR or RON) credit facility of EUR 5 million.

Total project cost

EUR 5,000,000.00

Sources Total: EUR 5,000,000

EBRD financing: EUR 5,000,000

Additionality

EBRD financing effectively bridges a liquidity gap due to adverse market conditions amid the Covid-19 crisis. The client will facilitate farmers' access to funding sources and will be available to support more farmers if competitors are no longer able to continue servicing them as a result of and amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Environmental & Social Summary

Categorised FI (ESP 2019). Agricover Credit IFN has an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) in place which meets the EBRD's environmental and social requirements under Performance Requirement (PR) 9 and compliance with PRs 2 and 4 was confirmed in the context of a previous transaction. The company ensures borrowers comply with the environmental and social national laws and regulations in force in Romania and have standard clauses in all loan agreements. Agricover Credit IFN will be required to continue to comply with the EBRD's PR 2, 4 and 9, including adhering to the EBRD's extended Exclusion and new Referral List as updated under the Environmental and Social Policy 2019. The company will continue to submit annual environmental and social reports. The expected overall risk profile of the sub-projects is low to medium.

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

N/A

Company Contact Information

Denisa Manoliu
credit@agricover.ro
https://agricover.ro/finantare/

Implementation summary

The project was expected to strengthen Agricover Credit IFN's funding position and to allow it to: i) pursue growth strategy aimed at assisting smaller farmers; ii) continue providing support to agri-business SME clients and thus reduce the risk profile of the end-borrowers. The EBRD financing was intended to provide the company with additional comfort supporting its lending plan to the agribusiness SMEs in Romania in the extraordinary context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal was to help ACIFN remain liquid and operational ('Resilient') with continued commercial lending at least in line with the market and comparable players ('Competitive').

The client achieved its business objective and maintained a robust financial performance. ACIFN remained committed to continuing and even enhancing lending during the COVID-19 crisis in order to support creditworthy existing customers with increased liquidity as well as to offer repayment holidays/ extensions to eligible farmers under the national authorities' emergency measures.

PSD last updated

05 Jan 2023

Understanding transition

Further information regarding the EBRD’s approach to measuring transition impact is available here.

Business opportunities

For business opportunities or procurement, contact the client company.

For business opportunities with the EBRD (not related to procurement) contact:

Tel: +44 20 7338 7168
Email: projectenquiries@ebrd.com

For state-sector projects, visit EBRD Procurement:

Tel: +44 20 7338 6794
Email: procurement@ebrd.com

General enquiries

Specific enquiries can be made using the EBRD Enquiries form.

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

The ESP and its associated Environmental and Social Requirements (ESRs) set out the ways in which the EBRD implements its commitment to promoting “environmentally sound and sustainable development”. The ESP and the ESRs include specific provisions for clients to comply with the applicable requirements of national laws on public information and consultation, and to establish a grievance mechanism to receive and facilitate resolution of stakeholders’ concerns and grievances, in particular, about the environmental and social (E&S) performance of the client and the project. Proportionate to the nature and scale of a project’s environmental and social risks and impacts, the EBRD also requires its clients to disclose information, as appropriate, about the risks and impacts of projects or to undertake meaningful consultation with stakeholders and consider and respond to their feedback.

More information on the EBRD’s practices in this regard is set out in the ESP.

Integrity and compliance

The EBRD's Office of the Chief Compliance Officer (OCCO) promotes good governance and ensures that the highest standards of integrity are applied to all of the Bank's activities in accordance with international best practice. Integrity due diligence is conducted on all Bank clients to ensure that projects do not present unacceptable integrity or reputational risks to the Bank. The EBRD believes that identifying and resolving issues in the project assessment and approval stages is the most effective means of ensuring the integrity of Bank transactions. OCCO plays a key role in these protective efforts andhelps to monitor integrity risks in projects post-investment.

OCCO is further responsible for investigating allegations of fraud, corruption and misconduct in EBRD-financed projects. Anyone, either within or outside the Bank, who suspects fraud or corruption should submit a written report to the Chief Compliance Officer by email to compliance@ebrd.com. OCCO will follow-up all matters reported. It will review all matters reported. Reports can be made in any language of the Bank or of the Bank's countries of operation. The information provided must be made in good faith.

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

The AIP, which entered into force on 1 January 2025, sets out how the EBRD discloses information and consults with its stakeholders to promote better awareness and understanding of its strategies, policies and operations. Please visit the Access to Information Policy page to find out what information is available from the EBRD website.

Specific requests for information can be made using the EBRD enquiries form.

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)

If efforts to address environmental, social or public disclosure concerns with the Client or the Bank are unsuccessful (for example, through the client’s project-level grievance mechanism or through direct engagement with Bank management), individuals and organisations may seek to address their concerns through the EBRD’s Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM).

IPAM independently reviews project issues that are believed to have caused (or to be likely to cause) harm. The purpose of the mechanism is: to support dialogue between project stakeholders to resolve environmental, social and public disclosure issues; to determine whether the Bank has complied with its Environmental and Social Policy or the project-specific provisions of its Access to Information Policy; and where applicable, to address any existing non-compliance with these policies, while preventing future non-compliance by the Bank.

Please visit the Independent Project Accountability Mechanism webpage to find out more about IPAM and its mandate and how to submit a Request for review. Alternatively, contact IPAM by email at ipam@ebrd.com for guidance and more information on IPAM and how to submit a request.

Environmental and Social Documentation is not available for this project.

Selected procurement notices related to this project may be shown below. Further procurement opportunities related to this and other projects, if available, maybe be viewed in the EBRD Procurement Portal.

The EBRD's Environmental and Social Policy (ESP), Access to Information policy (AIP) and Project Accountability Policy (PAP) enable sound and sustainable development in its projects. The Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM) deals with complaints about environmental, social and disclosure matters related to the Bank’s investments.

No complaints about this project have been made so far.

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RF - Agricover Credit IFN

Overview

Project timeline

Company Contact Information

Project description

Project objectives

Transition impact

Client information

EBRD Finance Summary

Total project cost

Additionality

Environmental & Social Summary

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

Company Contact Information

Implementation summary

PSD last updated

Understanding transition

Business opportunities

General enquiries

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

Integrity and compliance

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)