International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is helping chemical maker Sisecam Soda Lukavac enhance its competitiveness and invest in environmentally friendly technology, part of an effort to spur economic growth and safeguard the environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
IFC is providing an €8.9 million loan to Sisecam, a soda ash producer and subsidiary of Turkey’s Sisecam Group. It will help the company improve energy efficiency and increase investments in green technology. IFC’s financing will help fund a $24.8 million capital expenditure program that includes a new energy efficient boiler, a filtering station and advanced effluent treatment.
In 2007, IFC helped the Sisecam Group finance the acquisition of Sisecam Soda Lukavac, then a loss-making state-owned enterprise. The latest loan is the fourth engagement of IFC with Sisecam Soda Lukavac after loans in 2013, 2010 and 2007. Sisecam has been an IFC client for over 40 years with multiple investments, first in Turkey, and then abroad, as IFC helped finance the group’s expansion in the Balkans, Russia, and Georgia.
“Increasing energy efficiency and environmental protection in Sisecam Soda Lukavac will provide Bosnia and Herzegovina with environmental and economic benefits,” said Thomas Lubeck, IFC Regional Manager for the Western Balkans. “Our financing is expected to help Sisecam Soda Lukavac become more resource efficient, profitable, and competitive, while improving the quality of life for local residents through reduced pollution.”
Bosnia and Herzegovina became a shareholder and member of IFC in 1996. Since then IFC has invested $385 million in the local economy, including $23 million mobilized from our partners, with a particular emphasis on manufacturing and financial markets. IFC has also invested in the country’s health sector, municipal infrastructure, agribusiness, construction and general manufacturing. IFC’s advisory services in Bosnia and Herzegovina, some offered in partnership with the World Bank, aim to improve the investment climate, encourage the use of renewable energy, expand access to finance, and attract private sector participation in the development of infrastructure projects, reads the statement.
