Announcement of IFC Aids Ecuador Agro-Industry Five Million US Dollars for Sugar Expansion on June 24, 1976

International Finance Corporation 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, O.C. 20433, U.S.A. • 202-393-6360 IFC Press Release No. 76/12 Thursday, June 24, 1976 IFC Aids Ecuador .Agro-Industry $5 Million for Sugar Expansion The International Finance Corporation (IFC), an affiliate of the World Bank, and United States and British banks are joining to help finance a $21.l million expansion of one of Ecuador's largest sugar producers, Sociedad Agr1cola e Industrial San Carlos S.A. Financing will be provided by an IFC loan of $5 million, internal Company resources estimated at $2.l million and by a $17 million loan arranged by Bank of .America N.T. & S.A., San Francisco, and provided by • Bank of America and a consortium headed by Libra Bank, London, and including Bankers Trust, New York, and Citibank, N.A., New York. Of this loan, $14 million will be applied for project financing purposes and $3 million for refinancing outstanding Company indebtedness. The expansion will increase San Carlos' capacity from about 100,000 metric tons of processed sugar a year to 137,500 metric tons. It includes additional processing equipment for the mill, located on Ecuador's coastal plain east of Guayaquil; putting an additional 7,730 acres of Company land into cane cultivation; and developing, under the Company's supervision, some 6,520 acres of cane fields by nearby small and medium-size farmers. The increased production will help satisfy domestic demand and increase Ecuador's sugar exports and foreign exchange earnings. It will also benefit the economy by creating 380 jobs and by enabling a number of independent farmers to establish themselves as cane suppliers. (Any inquiries strictly relating to IFC's participation in this project • should be directed to the IFC Business Relations Unit, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, Telephone (202) 477-5770) •