JOHANNESBURG, June 30 (Reuters) – South African pharmaceutical company Aspen Pharmacare said on Wednesday it had received a loan of 600 million euro ($711.84 million) from global finance institutions to help to refinance existing loans and to develop vaccines.

International Finance Institution (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank said in a statement that the loan will “refinance existing debt and strengthen the company’s balance sheet, supporting Aspen’s operations including production of vaccines.”

Aspen is sourcing COVID-19 vaccine ingredients from Johnson & Johnson to package the vaccines in South Africa, a process known as fill and finish. ($1 = 0.8429 euros) (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee. Editing by Jane Merriman)

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