AKIPRESS.COM - The EBRD is providing Mongolian food producer Teso Group with a local currency loan equivalent to US$ 6.5 million to finance the company’s expansion, the Bank reports.

The funds will be used to construct a new production facility for fresh noodles and for the purchase of equipment by the subsidiary Agi LLC. In addition, Icemark LLC – another subsidiary of the Teso Group – will receive a portion of the loan to acquire equipment for ice cream production expansion.

Teso Group is one of the largest local food and beverage companies in Mongolia. Initially founded as a small ice cream family business, the company is today a medium-sized enterprise producing ice cream, snacks, noodles, margarine, dairy products and beverages, as well as importing other foodstuffs.

The cooperation between Teso Group and the EBRD began in 2014 when the Bank provided Mongolia’s first local currency loan equivalent to US$ 5.5 million. Local currency funding reduces the exchange rate risk for Mongolian producers but access to these funds remains scarce.

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Mongolia, with over €1.6 billion invested in 93 projects in the country to date. The Bank’s investments aim to make the local economy more competitive, integrated and resilient.