Plantations et Huileries du Congo
BIO has granted USD 56 K of technical assistance to the Plantations et Huileries du Congo, a palm oil plantation in the DRC to improve PHC water practices
Amount
€ 46,918.00
Type of investment
Subsidy
Beneficiary locations
Investment field
Enterprises
Activity
PHC has over one hundred years’ history and has three remote plantations in Lokutu, Yaligimba and Boteka, each located hundreds of kilometres from the nearest city and without any substantial infrastructure. After the government, PHC is the largest employer in the DRC, with around 9,000 permanent and temporary employees.
Feronia bought PHC from Unilever in 2009. At that time PHC was nearly extinct as a business, after having suffered years of underinvestment and disruption caused by conflict in the DRC. The two periods of major conflict, between 1996 and 2003, severely affected operations. Subsequently, while the business resumed operations, it went into a period of decline due to underinvestment and lack of strategic support from its parent company. During this period, the local senior management, many of whom still work for PHC, and a core staff of approximately 3,000 people kept the business running to the best of their ability, often at great personal risk.
Without Feronia’s intervention to buy PHC, and the subsequent investments from development finance institutions (DFIs) like BIO, it is highly unlikely that this historic company employing thousands of workers in a region where there is virtually no other formal employment would have survived.
Technical assistance
The aim of the technical assistance is to improve PHC’s water and effluent management practices against the applicable standards and recommendations to address and minimise the impact of its operations.
Expected impacts
Better management of risk related to effluent and water quality. Better protection of the users and consumers of the water around PHC’s sites.
Read impact and news about this project
News
A statement on the completion of the restructuring of Feronia / PHC
30-11-2020
In July it was announced that Feronia was facing bankruptcy and was to undergo a financial restructuring in order to secure the long-term future of PHC, its palm oil business located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On November 23rd, 2020, the formal restructuring agreement between the company and its lenders was signed.
News
Feronia/PHC - BIO’s mission is to invest in the most difficult places and circumstances.
25-11-2019
On the 25th of November, Human Rights Watch published a report on Feronia / PHC, and the DFIs who invested therein. Here you can find a joint statement from CDC Group, BIO, DEG, and FMO in response to the HRW report.
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