Greece-based bakery and confectionery group Chipita could secure a loan from The International Finance Corporation for the construction of a croissant plant in Turkey.
The IFC is weighing up whether to lend privately-owned Chipita EUR10.8m for the project, which is in its latter stages, the investment arm of the World Bank said.
Construction of the plant, located 36 kilometres from Istanbul, is expected to be completed this month. Chipita is aiming to start production in the first quarter of next year with products to be rolled out in the spring. A meeting of the IFC board will decide on the loan next month.
Chipita, controlled by CEO Spyros Theodoropoulos and Saudi conglomerate The Olayan Group, has company-owned plants in five countries and interests in facilities in three other states through joint ventures.
In a filing made public ahead of the IFC board meeting, the IFC said the financing “will be the first step in building a relationship between Chipita and IFC”
It added: “Chipita operates in several emerging markets and IFC could play in the future a bigger role in their expansion to a number of markets through large scale financings. Chipita is new to Turkey, and IFC’s presence and know-how of the local market is likely to benefit the company.”
