German development agency DEG (Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH) is providing Bosnian food producer Vispak with a long-term loan of around €12mn, DEG said in a press statement on March 18.

With the loan, Vispak will expand and modernise its production capacity, for example, by investing in packaging technology. At the same time the company is investing in its environmental balance. So that it can supply itself with green electricity in future, it is having a photovoltaic system installed on the roof of the office building. Thus CO2 emissions are avoided and electricity costs are reduced.

The medium-sized enterprise Vispak is based in Visoko. It mainly processes and sells coffee. In addition, it also produces chocolate, soups and baked goods. The company is part of the AS Group, a local food and drink producer. By expanding its capacity, the firm will be able to process more coffee in future.

The current market share amounts to approximately 20%. Demand is high because Bosnia & Herzegovina is one of the top ten countries in the world when it comes to coffee consumption per capita. Vispak employs around 130 people, with the expansion of capacity creating another 30 skilled jobs.

Monika Beck, DEG management board member, commented: "We are delighted to be supporting Vispak in its company development and investing directly in a company in Bosnia-Herzegovina for the first time. At the same time we are contributing to local market development by promoting higher standards in food processing and quality control, but also environmentally friendly production."

“We thank DEG for their trust as well as the professional commitment of the teams on both sides, who were involved in implementing such an important project, which is hopefully the start of a long and successful collaboration,“ said Rusmir Hrvic, CEO of AS Group.

Financing and advising small and medium-sized enterprises is a focus of DEG. It provides them with long-term funding which is not available on the local market. In 2020 alone, DEG reached around 2mn small and medium-sized enterprises with its financing offers and committed around €171mn to investments in the private sector in the Europe and Caucasus, DEG said the statement.

Hrvic is one of the most successful managers in Bosnia. He is the president of the management board of AS Group and director of AS Holding Tesanj. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo, and has been working for AS since 1995. When he completed the acquisition of Vispak in 2010, he became the largest shareholder in AS. In February 2014, he completed the acquisition of the Sarajevo company Klas and then became the director of the newly established AS Holding. AS Holding today employs about 5,000 people, in three business sectors — food, trade and textiles.