In August 2021, OeEB signed a risk sub-participation of EUR 23 million for a credit line from DEG totalling EUR 144 million to the South African pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited (Aspen). The credit line is part of a EUR 600 million financing package mobilized by the IFC and is intended to help improve local medical care.

Project name Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited
Region Sub-Saharan Africa
Sector Health
Service Investment Finance
Project volume EUR 23  million
Project partner(s) DEG, IFC, Proparco, DFC

Headquartered in Durban, South Africa, Aspen is a specialty and branded pharmaceutical company. It is active in over 50 countries worldwide, operating 23 manufacturing facilities across 15 sites. The Group employs approximately 9,000 people.

The loan will help Aspen to (re)finance investments in a fully certified facility for sterile injectable solutions at its site in the coastal town of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) in South Africa, in order to manufacture anaesthetics and other sterile medicinal products such as vaccines there. 

This is intended to improve medical care as well as the local supply of much-needed vaccines in Africa. Only about one percent of the vaccines needed in Africa are currently produced there. The loan will allow Aspen, a major player in the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines and treatment therapies, to expand its production in South Africa.