News
01.06.2013
IFC invests in meat producer Axzon to help company expand
KYIV-- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is investing in Axzon, a leading Eastern European pork producer, to support the company s expansion in Ukraine. The investment will also facilitate the construction of new biogas plants in Poland, which will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and showcase the benefits of sustainable agriculture.
IFC is providing Axzon with a financing package of up to 54 million in debt and equity. The company s expansion will help it tap into Ukraine s growing and undersupplied pork market and create hundreds of jobs in the rural western region of Ivano-Frankivsk. Additionally, IFC s financing will support the construction of three biogas power plants in Poland, which will turn animal waste into energy.
Axzon is the largest producer of biogas-based energy in the country. The world s population is expanding and we as agricultural producers need to satisfy not only a growing need for food products but also a need for energy, said Tom Axelgaard, Axzon s Chief Executive Officer. Together with IFC, we will be able to take further steps to expand and grow.
This agreement is IFCs fifth deal in Ukraine s agribusiness sector so far this financial year. Helping Ukraine realize its potential in agribusiness is at the core of IFCs work here, said Rufat Alimardanov, IFC s Regional Head for Ukraine and Belarus. We hope this project will promote better standards in Ukraine s meat producing sector and will also showcase the benefits of biogas plants."
Axzon is expected to double its production in Ukraine as it expands. The project will also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Poland and Ukraine. The group is emitting about 44,000 less tons of carbon-dioxide per year than it would without the biogas energy efficiency measures. That is equivalent to saving 93,000 barrels of gasoline per year. The new biogas facilities will cut up to 29,000 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions annually. Dragon Capital, a leading Ukrainian investment bank, acted as a financial adviser for Axzon on the transaction.
