Egypt’s Beyti gets $44m EBRD loan

Beyti is 52% owned by Almarai Company, one of the largest integrated consumer food producers in the MENA region, headquartered in Saudi Arabia, and 48% by PepsiCo Inc.

The loan will support refinancing of existing short-term loans used for capex with a loan more adapted to the company's investment program, and capex investments to expand Beyti's dairy and juice production capacities and distribution network to strengthen its presence in Egypt.

Expansion potential

The impact of the project is expected to support the company in enhancing its corporate standards and business conduct through the promotion of equal opportunities policies and practices to increase women's participation in the company's workforce, and to support market expansion of dairy and juice sectors in Egypt through strengthening backward and forward linkages.

This includes increasing production and raw milk and fruit concentrate purchases of the company from local dairy farms and juice concentrate producers, and expanding logistics coverage of the company in both sectors by increasing the number of distribution centers and delivery capacity and hence a higher number of sales points in the country.

Improving opportunities for women

The EBRD said it will provide technical cooperation support to comprehensively examine the barriers to female employment in the company's workforce in terms of recruitment, working environment, and career progression opportunities according to international best practice, and help develop a gender action plan tailored to the company's operations.

Beyti is headquartered in Cairo, and has a manufacturing facility in Nubareya.