DINANT FULLY REPAYS IFC LOAN

Tegucigalpa, HONDURAS, Nov. 28, 2017 -- Corporacion Dinant today announced that it has repaid fully the US$15 million loan it received from the IFC division of the World Bank in 2009, positioning the company to continue its growth throughout Central America, the Caribbean and beyond.

“Since receiving the IFC loan in 2009, Dinant has invested in a program to support the sustainable production of Corozo palm nuts by local Pech and Garifuna communities.”

Furthermore, the IFC has confirmed that Dinant has successfully completed all requirements listed in the IFC’s Enhanced Action Plan, which accompanied the US$15 million loan, and the company is fully compliant with the World Bank’s Performance Standard 4 on community health, safety and security.  In addition, Dinant is implementing the Voluntary Principles for Security and Human Rights (the first company in Honduras to do so) and has removed all firearms from the security guards at its plantations, extraction mills and manufacturing plants. 

Company Spokesman, Roger Pineda, commented, “The IFC's loan to Dinant was granted to help us increase production capacity, upgrade our distribution network, enhance the surrounding natural environment, and expand economic opportunities for local communities, particularly in rural areas like the Aguan.  Of course, we must continue to improve but, by all these measures and more, the IFC’s loan to Dinant has been a tremendous success.  Dinant is now widely recognized as an international benchmark in how to operate a successful business transparently and honestly in one of the most challenging regions in the world.”

Dinant has gained enormously from the expertise of the IFC, enabling the company to pass real benefits directly to neighboring communities throughout Honduras.  Dinant employs 7,200 people, sources from hundreds of independent farmers, generates many millions of dollars in exports for Honduras, and contributes significantly to all economies in which it operates.

Mr. Pineda continued, “Crucially, Dinant is enhancing the lives of many people in regions of high levels of poverty and insecurity by creating thousands of sustainable jobs with company pensions and compensation levels above the national minimum wage, and by significantly improving the skills, education and health of local people.  However, the repayment of the IFC loan is by no means the end of our investment in community engagement, the natural environment and modernized security; we shall continue to work hard to improve our operations further and maintain our position as a leader in these fields.”

About Corporacion Dinant

Dinant is a family-owned consumer products manufacturer founded in Honduras in 1960.  Its products are sold across Central America and the Dominican Republic, and exported to global markets.  Dinant is fully implementing the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, an internationally accepted benchmark that strictly governs how it vets, recruits and trains its security men and women.  The company removed all firearms from the security guards at its plantations, extraction mills and manufacturing plants in 2014.  Dinant rigorously benchmarks its African Palm oil business against stringent international standards on economic, environmental and social impact.

This material is distributed by Tricuro LLC on behalf of Corporación Dinant.  Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2a54b222-8232-42cc-b182-764d423a906a

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1b7950a7-33b4-411b-a11f-1c7992d66221

Roger Pineda Pinel
Corporacion Dinant
+504 2239-8800
[email protected]