The Schwarz Group (the “Group”) ranks among the top five food retail companies globally. Headquartered in Germany, the Group is a privately-held company. The Group is involved in food retail through two brands: Lidl and Kaufland. The Group has presence in basically all western European countries as well as in Central and Eastern Europe.

The next two years of investment in the Target Countries is estimated at €400 million. IFC is proposed to provide an A loan of up to €180 million to partially finance this investment plan.

Investments under the Project can be made in small and large cities throughout Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova.

This investment is a category B project per IFC’s Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy.

Key E&S aspects for this new investment are essentially the same as those identified under previous projects and comprise company’s commitment to sustainable development and its capacity to assess and manage E&S aspects, including: compliance with corporate standards and national environmental and social laws; management of impacts during construction (particularly protecting the occupational health and safety of those engaged in building the stores); life safety of visitors and personnel during emergency situations; protection of employees’ working rights; ongoing monitoring of the primary supply chain; food safety; resource efficiency and waste minimization; and stakeholders engagement.

These issues may all be readily mitigated and are relatively minor and reversible.