EBRD and EU support cheese company Land’Or in Morocco and Tunisia
In Tunisia, the EBRD will provide a loan of 10m dinar ($3.7m) for new machinery and to increase production capacity. Land’Or will also optimize the processes in its Tunisian plant by improving its industrial standards, investing in productivity, quality and safety.
Land’Or’s subsidiary in Morocco, Land’Or Maroc Industries (LMI), will receive a loan of 82.2m dirham ($9.2m) to purchase and install equipment at its new cheese manufacturing plant, to be built in Kenitra, north of Rabat.
This facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2021 and will have a capacity of 2,700 tonnes of processed triangle cheese per year. It is also designed to manufacture new products and new packaging with the objective of increasing export potential.
LMI will also benefit from an EU grant through the Bank’s Value Chain and Competitiveness Programme, which aims to improve value chains and make businesses more competitive across the southern and eastern Mediterranean region.
Land’Or has been part of the EBRD Blue Ribbon program since February 2020. The program, for high-potential small and medium-sized enterprises, is helping the company through technical assistance to adopt international financial reporting as well as increasing its export potential and operational efficiency.
Land’Or, a Tunisian joint-stock company, was created in 1994 by Dr Hatem Denguezli and Dr Hichem Ayed and was listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange in 2013. Land’Or Maroc Industries is the company's recently-established subsidiary in Morocco.
The EBRD said it places a strong emphasis on providing finance for private sector firms in Morocco and in Tunisia. The EBRD started investment in both countries in 2012. To date, the EBRD has invested almost €2.5bn ($3bn) in 66 projects in Morocco. In Tunisia, the bank has invested €950m ($1.1bn) in 47 projects.
