Announcement of Twenty Million Forty Thousand US Dollars Philippine Project to Expand Broiler Chicken Output on January 16, 1980

• lntemational Finance Corporation ·1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. 202-4 77-1234 IFC Press Release No. 80/14 Wednesday, January 16, 1980 $20.4 Million Philippine Project To Expand Broiler Chicken Output General Milling Corporation, a leading Philippine company in the agricultural sector, will substantialiy expand its broiler chicken production with an approximateiy US$20.4 million project financed by local investment institutions and by the International Fin.a.nee Corporation (IFC). Technical assistance for the project will be provided by Central Soya Company, Inc. of Illinoi~. • General Milling is active in a variety of agriculture-related operations including flour milling, animal feeds, corn processing and pig and poultry farming. The project's principal elements are expansion of the company's breeder farms to increase egg-laying capacity, construction of a new proces- sing plant for broiler chickens, including refrigeration and storage facil- ities. At full operation, the company will be able to produce 24 million day- old chicks and 17 million dressed broilers annually. IFC, the World Bank affiliate that assists developing economies by i~- vesting in private enterprise ventures, is lending US$4 million for the project and investing US$1.l million in General Milling's equity. IFC also helped form a syndicate of Philippine investment institutions co-managed by the Priv- ate Development Corporation of the Philippines (PDCP) and the Philippine Invest- ment Systems Organization (PISO), which has syndicated the equivalent US$6.8million in peso loan funds. The local funds are being provided by The Philippine American Life Insurance Co. against guarantees of PDCP, PISO, Philippine Commercial and Industrial Bank, The Chartered. Bank, and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company. • Company internal cash generation completes the financial plan • The General Milling expansion. will augment food supplies in the Philippines and is in line with the Government's policy of making the country more self-  - 2 - sufficient in food products. ,( It will also benefit the ee::;i;momy both through direct job creation and as a result of the increased number of independent • growers supplying broller chickens to the company under contract. • (Any inquiries strictly relating to IFC's participation in this project should • be directed to the IFC Information Office, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, Telephone (202) 676-0394.)