Antara HCMC

Summary of Proposed Investment

This Summary of Proposed Investment is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of the IFC Board of Directors’ consideration of the proposed transaction. Its purpose is to enhance the transparency of IFC’s activities, and this document should not be construed as presuming the outcome of the Board decision. Board dates are estimates only.

Project number	27091
Company name	Antara Holdings (Asia) Ltd
Country	Vietnam
Sector	Transportation and Warehousing
Environmental category	B
Department	Infrastructure
Status	Active

Date SPI disclosed	May 13, 2008
Projected board date	June 25, 2008
Previous Events	Invested: March 26, 2009 Signed: March 5, 2009 Approved: January 29, 2009

View Environmental & Social Review Summary (ESRS), click here

Overview

Sponsor/Cost/Location

Development Impact

Contacts

Attachments

Project description

The Antara HCMC project involves the construction and operation of a 29,000 pallet-position cold storage facility in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This is a greenfield project. The project site is located fifteen minutes from the center of Ho Chi Minh City, next to both the Phu My Bridge (under construction) and existing and planned port facilities. The planned facility will use a cascading ammonia refrigeration system, and aims to be environmentally friendly with zero-carbon footprint and 100% treatment of effluents. The project is intended to provide high quality cold storage facilities to the seafood industry and other users. This is the first stage of a plan to develop a fully integrated national cold logistics network in Vietnam.

Anticipated development impact of the project

The proposed project will help strengthen local supply chains, contributing to the development of the warehousing and logistics industry in Vietnam, benefiting both suppliers and retailers of seafood and a broad range of other products, facilitating the flow of products to the consumers and improving their availability and prices.

The project will result in more efficient distribution of consumer goods for seafood and frozen food sectors, decreasing the spoilage rate and eventually decreasing distribution costs.

The project will also give local businesses an opportunity to increasingly outsource their logistics services rather than operate in-house cold storage facilities, lowering their business inventory costs and working capital requirements, thus improving their efficiency and allowing companies to realize economies of scale in cargo storage, handling and transportation. A presence of a strong and competent logistics operator in Vietnam would support the growing seafood industry and allow Vietnam to target more quality-oriented markets, benefiting both local economy and consumers. It will also help to promote better standards among other cold storage providers competing in this market that will in turn facilitate the integration of Vietnam to the WTO.

As a greenfield project, Antara will create new jobs at the cold storage warehouse itself and also indirectly by increasing the level of business activity and thus creating jobs in other related sectors such as seafood processing, fast food retailers, construction, and transportation.

IFC's expected development contribution

IFC’s role and additionality in this project includes:

- provision of financing adequate to the needs of the client, otherwise unavailable on comparable terms including a project finance structure and long tenors of the proposed loan facilities; - introduction of the project to a broader universe of foreign investors by marketing and mobilizing the proposed B loan;
- assistance to the project in enhancing its environmental and social standards; - provision of a “stamp of approval” for the project and the sponsor that can help attract private investment capital for cold storage and logistics projects in Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia.

Environmental and social issues - Category B

This is a category B project according to IFC’s environmental and social review procedure.

The following potential environmental and social impacts of the project have been identified:

- Environmental and social management system;
- Site selection, land acquisition and management of construction activities;
- Controls on transport, storage and sale of authorized goods;
- Labor and working conditions;
- Food safety and packaging;
- Life and fire safety;
- Emissions to the environment;
- Energy Efficiency;
- Solid and hazardous waste management;
- Emergency preparedness;
- Community and occupational health and safety.

IFC’s preliminary environmental and social review of available project information indicates that the investment will have impacts that must be managed in a manner consistent with the following Performance Standards:

- Social and Environmental Assessment and Management;
- Labor and Working Conditions;
- Pollution Prevention and Abatement;
- Community Health, Safety and Security;
- Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement.

The company will ensure that the proposed project will comply with the environmental and social requirements – Vietnamese laws and regulations and IFC’s Performance Standards. The information about how these potential impacts will be addressed by the Sponsor is summarized in the Environmental and Social Review Summary (ESRS) and Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP).

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