MILAN – SACE, the Italian export credit agency, announced yesterday, March 19th, 2024, a new Push Strategy operation worth approximately 500 million euros intended to support the roasting supply chain in Italy on the one hand, guaranteeing the import of quality raw coffee, and on the other hand new export opportunities.
The operation sees SACE alongside Olam Food Ingredients (“ofi”), a global leader in naturally good food & beverage ingredients, in particular in the green coffee sector, of which it secures responsible and traceable supplies.
The Italian roasting industry, an icon of Made in Italy, is made up of around 1000 companies – from small businesses to large international groups – with a total turnover of over 5 billion dollars.
SACE has provided a total loan of approximately 500 million euros (organized in two tranches, worth 250 million dollars and 37.38 billion yen respectively) in favour of ofi. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) acted as a Mandated Lead Arranger & Bookrunner while Citibank acted as a Mandated Lead Arranger for the Facility. SMBC was also appointed as a Coordinator and Facility Agent.
The loan has a duration of 5 years for the US$250 million tranche and 7 years for the JPY37.38 billion tranche, the latter representing SACE’s first “Samurai” JPY loan.
SACE’s intervention aims to maximize business opportunities for companies in the coffee roasting supply chain, which includes around a thousand small, medium and large companies, for a overall turnover of over US$5 billion – ensuring both the import of quality green coffee and new export opportunities for all the supply chains involved (food processing, bottling, packaging, etc.).
ofi, which today represents a 16% share of the Italian market, will continue to guarantee supplies of raw coffee and will also open up to new commercial opportunities with Italy, through marketing activities business matching, as part of SACE’s Push Strategy program.
Rishi Kalra, Executive Director and Group CFO of ofi said: “This is a landmark facility – being ofi’s first ECA backed loan and SACE’s first “Samurai” JPY loan. This transaction forms a part of our financing strategy to diversify sources of capital and extend our debt maturity. We are pleased to support SACE’s ‘Push Strategy’ and look forward to enhancing our engagement with Italian customers and suppliers.
