Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised the Japan International Cooperation Agency (“JICA”) on a US$75m financing package for ECOM Agroindustrial Corp Limited and ECOM Agroindustrial Asia Pte Ltd (“ECOM”) as part of a US$175m project aimed at strengthening supply chains and improving the livelihoods and employment of small-scale farmers in the Asia-Pacific region.
The initiative, co-financed by the Asian Development Bank (“ADB”), will facilitate the stable procurement of coffee from more than 60,000 small-scale farmers in India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam whilst also providing consulting services, such as coffee certification support, climate change adaption pilot projects and farming support for female farmers. the. This follows WFW’s previous advisory role to ADB in December 2024 on a US$100m financing package to ECOM under the same project.
JICA is a Japanese governmental agency dedicated to promoting economic and social growth in emerging economies and fostering international cooperation.
ECOM, headquartered in Switzerland, is a global commodity trading and processing company focussed on coffee, cocoa and cotton.
ADB is a leading multilateral development bank committed to inclusive, resilient and sustainable growth across Asia and the Pacific.
The WFW Hanoi Finance team that advised JICA was led by Projects Partner Matt Lorimer, supported by Associate Phan Nguyen.
Matt commented: “We’re proud to have advised JICA on financing a project that delivers tangible benefits to communities across the Asia-Pacific region. ECOM’s work with farmers has been transformative and we’re always pleased to advise on initiatives backed by JICA and ADB”.
