Announcement of IFC Assists Tanzanian Industry One Million Fifty Thousand US Dollars for Metal Products on June 21, 1979

International Finance Corporation • 1818 H Street. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. 202-4 77-1234 IFC Press Release No. 79/36 Thursday, June 21, 1979 IFC Assists Tanzanian Industry $1.5 Million for Metal Products The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank affiliate, will help finance an approximately $5.9 million expansion and diversification of Metal Products Limited, an established metalworking company in Tanzania and the major producer of household utensils in the country. The project will help meet increasing demand for the Company's products, diversify its operations and, at the same time, broaden the shareholder base to include Tanzanian investors. The expansion will enable Metal Products to double its annual output of galvanized buckets to 720,000 units and increase the manufacturing of stain- • less steel utensils to 50 tons from the experimental seven tons-a-year level at present. In the diversification, the Company will initiate production of 480,000 steel drums and 400,000 pieces of steel enamelware a year. Financing for the project includes the Tanzanian Investment Bank Limited, $1,510,000 in loan and $423,000 in equity; IFC, $1,268,000 in loan, $181,000 in equity; Household Supply Company Limited of Tanzania, $200,000 in equity; Mabati Limited of Tanzania, a $242,000 in subordinated loan and $181,000 in equity; and cash generation from on-going operations, $850,000. The East African Development Bank is expected to provide the balance of $1,087,000 in loan required for financing the project. Prior to the project, Metal Products Limited was owned by the English Finance and Development Company Limited and Clovis Company Limited, both in- vestment companies with diversified operations in Africa, and by the Chandria Foundation. The project will help meet rising consumer demand for durable, hygienic utensils, especially alleviating shortages of galvanized buckets in rural areas. Steel drums are essential to, and will support a proposed domestic • bitumen plant which will contribute, in turn, to Tanzania's roadbuilding program. - 2 - The enamelware production will introduce an improved and appropriate • technology into the country and make available better quality products. The expansion will also benefit the economy by creating more than 170 new jobs and generating foreign exchange savings averaging about $1.4 million a year through import substitution. • (Any inquiries strictly relating to IFC's partici.pation in this project should be directed to the IFC Information Office, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, • D.C. 20433, Telephone (202) 477-2032.)