The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending US$2.5mn to Bericap Kazakhstan to help it build a factory to manufacture container tops for the Central Asian market.

Bericap Kazakhstan is part of the Bericap Group of companies, one of the leading plastic container top manufacturers in the world. The investment will help Kazakhstan diversify its economy away from dependence on oil and gas and, by lowering the cost of plastic container tops, stimulate smaller food-production companies to enter and compete in a fast-growing market. The bank’s experience across the region will also help the Bericap Group in its plans to build a regional presence in Central Asia.

Bericap Kazakhstan has a five-year track record of supplying a wide range of plastic container tops to customers in the drinks, oils, pharmaceutical, chemical and liquid food industries in all five countries of Central Asia, as well as Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Half of the company’s total sales are in Kazakhstan, where Bericap Kazakhstan was established in 2001. The company was initially envisaged as a distribution hub for Bericap Group’s sales in Central Asia, but demand has proved so strong that a production facility was also set up in 2003.
Bericap Kazakhstan, which produces 300mn caps a year to supply 64 companies, now plans a new purpose-built factory in an industrial park on the edge of the capital, Almaty.

By producing caps locally and removing import costs, this seven-year loan development will not only increase the number of small and medium-sized clients able to buy plastic container tops and enter the market but also raise business standards and practices. The new factory will bring environmental, health and safety standards up to best international standards.

Bericap Kazakhstan is 71% per cent owned by Bericap Kapak Sanayi, the group’s Turkish manufacturing base and holding company for the group’s expansion into Central Asia and Africa. Bericap Turkey is fully owned by Bericap Holding GmbH, the group’s ultimate holding, based in Germany, which holds the remaining 29% of Bericap Kazakhstan.