Money Markets
Workers package edible oil at the Bidco plant in Thika. The company
controls over 60 per cent of the cooking fat market in Kenya.
Photo/FILE
By John Gachiri, jgachiri@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- Amount is half of what manufacturer plans to sink into the Sh4 billion venture.
- Bidco will expand capacity at the Thika plant for the existing product lines while the new plant is to be constructed for new products.
- The expansion will raise its direct employment by 15 per cent.
International Finance Corporation (IFC) is set
to invest Sh2 billion in Bidco Oil Refinery, half the amount one of
Kenya’s largest manufacturers plans to sink into its Sh4 billion
expansion.
The expansion will raise its direct employment by 15 per cent.
The World Bank’s private lending arm is proposing
to lend Bidco the cash the company requires to expand its Thika-based
plant and construct a new factory on the same land in Kiambu County.
IFC will also syndicate another Sh1.17 billion, bringing the total IFC-linked investment to Sh3.71 billion.
“The proposed investment will consist of a
corporate A loan investment of up to $23 million (Sh2 billion) on IFC’s
account and a syndicated B loan investment of up to $13.5 million
(Sh1.17 billion),” said disclosure notes released by the multilateral
lender.
The IFC did not indicate the financiers of the
syndicated loan or where Bidco will get the balance $9.5 million or
Sh826 million.
The disclosure says Bidco will expand capacity at
the Thika plant for the existing product lines while the new plant is to
be constructed for new products.
Bidco currently manufactures edible oils, cooking
fats, soaps, baking powder, animal feeds and detergents in 30 brands
that control over 60 per cent of the cooking fat and 54 per cent of the
cooking oil market in Kenya, according to Consumer Insight.
Its main competitors include Nairobi’s Kapa Oil, coast-based Pwani Oil and Nakuru-based Menengai Oil.
“The expansion of Bidco’s capacity into new products will be constructed on a greenfield site in Thika, Kenya,” says the note.
Construction of the new plant, which will include a waste-water treatment plant, is expected to be completed by June 2015.
Expansion will also result in the manufacturer
increasing its labour force to 2,596 employees from 2,256 over the next
two years.
IFC said that Bidco’s expansion project will also benefit about 20,000 farmers who will be added to the company’s supply chain.
Currently the company sources raw materials from
an estimated 5,000 farmers. Another source of raw material is the
20,000-acre palm oil plantation in Kalangala Island, located on the
Ugandan side of Lake Victoria.
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