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Plantations et Huileries du Congo

Subsidy : March 2021 - October 2021

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

Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo

Investment field

Enterprises

Activity

A01.26 Growing of oleaginous fruits

Organisation

Plantations et Huileries du Congo

Domicile

DRC

More investments in

Plantations et Huileries du Congo

  • Debt € 9,741,280.77 (2015-2021)

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

A statement on the completion of the restructuring of Feronia / PHC

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.

Read more
Feronia/PHC - BIO’s mission is to invest in the most difficult places and circumstances.

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.

Read more

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