South Africa: supporting a major player in the production of Covid-19 treatments and vaccines in Africa

Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited is based in Durban in South Africa and is a leading pharmaceutical group. It is playing a major role in the production of Covid-19 treatments and vaccines in Africa. As a recognized player in the pharmaceutical sector for over 20 years, Aspen improves the health of patients in over 150 countries through its high-quality, affordable and effective healthcare solutions. The Group’s main business sectors are manufacturing and commercial pharmaceutical products (including regional brands and sterile brands), which comprise anesthetics and thrombosis products. Aspen employs about 9,800 people and has 70 business operations in over 50 countries. The Group operates 23 manufacturing plants on 15 sites and has international manufacturing approvals from some of the most stringent international regulatory agencies. Its manufacturing capacity is scalable in terms of demand and covers a wide range of types of products, including sterile products, solid oral doses, liquids, semi-solids, organic products and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

The EUR 600m of long-term financing will comprise EUR 200m on IFC’s own account, EUR 156m from Proparco, EUR 144m arranged by DEG and EUR 100m from DFC. This financing will allow Aspen to refinance its existing debt and strengthen its balance sheet by supporting its operations, in particular the production of vaccines and other therapies on African and emerging markets. The four development finance institutions also have the objective of helping to facilitate an increase in vaccine manufacturing know-how and knowledge-sharing in Africa by partnering with Aspen.

The expected impacts of this project are as follows:  

• The project will improve the availability of essential pharmaceutical products in developing countries, such as various generics, drugs to treat thrombosis and the Covid-19 vaccine. Some 300 million people will be able to directly benefit from a Covid-19 vaccine produced by Aspen. 
• The project should support some 9,400 direct jobs and contribute to the creation of 4,600 direct jobs in developing countries over the next 5 years. Women account for 49% of the direct jobs. Over the next 5 years, Aspen’s sales in developing countries should support 86,000 indirect jobs (jobs in the supply chain) and 6,400 induced jobs (jobs maintained in the country through the company’s sales). 

The project will thereby contribute to the achievement of SDG 3 (Good health and well-being), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, innovation and infrastructure).