• ERBD facility of US$ 100 million for expansion of Louis Dreyfus Company
  • Investment to support operations in eight countries, partnership with farmers and knowledge sharing
  • Enhanced corporate governance to address the risks of climate change

Farmers across eight countries will have better access to markets and knowledge-sharing programmes (including management of risks arising from climate change), as part of the expansion of the operations of the Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), with support from the EBRD.

The EBRD is providing a US$ 100 million financing facility to LDC, a leading merchant and processor of agricultural products and a partner of the EBRD since 2000, to facilitate the company’s regional expansion in Bulgaria,  Egypt, Kazakhstan, Poland, Romania, Tajikistan, Turkey and Ukraine.

The expansion will provide access to LDC’s supply chains to many regional small and medium-sized grain and cotton farmers, which is important for their development and planning activity. As part of their cooperation with LDC, small farms will also receive training on modern agronomic practices in order to improve the quality of their produce. The programme will support cross-border trade flows and the expansion of the agricultural commodities market.

The investment will also foster the adoption by LDC of an enhanced climate corporate governance approach in line with the guidelines of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which support voluntary disclosure to stakeholders of climate-related financial risk. This will include the development of new tools for climate-related risk management and climate scenario stress testing of grain harvests in Ukraine and cotton harvests in Turkey.

Founded in 1851, LDC is at the heart of the global agricultural industry, with a diversified portfolio covering the entire value chain, from origination to distribution. The company sources, stores, transforms, transports and distributes agricultural and food products worldwide.

To date, the EBRD has invested €12.27 billion in the agribusiness sector through 729 projects. In 2019 alone, the Bank invested €756.4 million in 58 agribusiness projects.

LINK: https://www.ebrd.com/news/2020/ebrd-supports-operations-of-louis-dreyfus-company-.html