responsAbility Social Investments AG (responsAbility), a Swiss asset management company that invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs) and microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), recently reported to MicroCapital that it has loaned the equivalent of USD 6.3 million to ProCredit Bank of Moldova, Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA) Russia and FINCA Jordan through MIVs that it manages.
Category: Deals
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC to Provide Local Currency Loans Worth Total of $13m to FINCA Azerbaijan, FINCA Kyrgyzstan to Expand Access to Microfinance
International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-investment arm of the World Bank Group, reportedly will provide local-currency loans of USD 7 million to FINCA Azerbaijan and USD 6 million to FINCA Kyrgyzstan, two microfinance institutions (MFIs) that are members of US-based FINCA International’s global microfinance network.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Loans $7.5m in Local Currency to Peruvian Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Financiera Confianza, Edpyme Raiz, Prisma
responsAbility Social Investments AG, a Swiss investment company that operates a number of microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), recently reported to MicroCapital that it has made local-currency debt investments worth a total of USD 7.5 million in Peruvian microfinance institutions (MFIs) Edpyme Raiz, Financiera Confianza and Asociacion Benefica Prisma (Prisma).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nigeria’s Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Partnering with Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) to Offer Mobile Banking
Nigeria-based Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) has partnered with Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN), a telecommunications provider based in South Africa, to offer mobile banking services in Nigeria.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Paper Gains on Early Investment in SKS Microfinance Largely Evaporate For Sequoia Capital
Since its initial investment in SKS Microfinance, an India-based microfinance institution (MFI), Sequoia Capital, a US-based venture capital firm, has experienced significant gains on paper followed by partial losses of those gains.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nigeria’s Capital Express Assurance Purchases Majority Shareholding in Kenya’s Capex Life Insurance, Which Plans to Downsize to Focus on Microfinance
Capital Express Assurance, a Nigeria-based life insurance company, has purchased a majority shareholding in Capex Life Assurance, a Kenya-based life insurance company formerly known as Trinity Life Assurance. Capital Express Assurance purchased a 65 percent stake in Capex Life Assurance for USD 975,000 [1]. The remaining 35 percent stake was purchased by a group of individual Kenyan investors led by current Capex Life Assurance general manager, James Macharia [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: PROPARCO, Storebrand Invest $15m in Incofin’s Microfinance Investment Vehicle Rural Impulse Fund II
Incofin Investment Management, a Belgian fund manager that invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs), has raised EUR 11 million (USD 15.8 million) for Rural Impulse Fund II, which invests in MFIs in developing countries that have at least 30 percent of their operations in rural areas.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: GIZ to Invest $28m to Boost Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, a German governmental development organization formerly called GTZ, reportedly plans to invest EUR 20 million (USD 28.6 million) to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the country through its Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria (SEDIN) program.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Advans Ghana Receives Investment of $4.52m from Société Générale, IFC, Triodos; Advans Cameroun Receives Loans of $2.45m from MicroVest, REGMIFA
Advans SA, a microfinance investment vehicle (MIV) registered in Luxembourg, recently reported to MicroCapital that two of its holdings have received local-currency refinancing loans.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) Makes $3m Debt Investment in Fondo de Capital Privado Inversor of Colombia to Support Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) That Serve Poor People
The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), an investment fund administered by the US-based Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), recently loaned USD 3 million to the Fondo de Capital Privado Inversor (FCPI), a Colombia-based venture capital fund.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFMR Capital Structures $3.8m Securitization of Microfinance Loans Originated by Ujjivan Financial Services of India
IFMR Capital, an affiliate of the India-based nonprofit Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), recently completed a securitization of approximately 21,000 microloans originated by Ujjivan Financial Services, an India-based microfinance institution (MFI), that is valued at INR 173 million (USD 3.82 million).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI) Global Fund Invests $2.8m in Triodos Microfinance Fund (TMF)
The Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI), a public-private partnership (PPP) that provides technical and financial support to microfinance institutions (MFIs), has agreed to invest an additional EUR 2 million (USD 2.8 million) in the Triodos Microfinance Fund (TMF), a Netherlands-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV) that supports MFIs around the world [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Pakistan’s Khushhali Bank Partnering With Western Union to Offer International Remittances
Khushhali Bank, a Pakistani microfinance bank, and Western Union, an American financial services and communications company, have signed an agreement to introduce international inbound remittance services in 76 districts across Pakistan, beginning with Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mexican Microfinance Institution (MFI) Financiera Independencia Places Certificados Bursatiles (Notes) Worth $128m
Financiera Independencia, a Mexican microfinance institution (MFI), has announced the successful placement of unsecured certificados bursatiles (notes) with an aggregate principal value of MXN 1.5 billion (USD 128 million).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) to Loan $70m to Niger to Provide Assistance to 1m Poor People Through Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), Mobile Phone Providers
The International Development Association, the arm of the World Bank that delivers aid to the poorest countries, has approved credit of USD 70 million to implement a “social safety net” in Niger, wherein cash transfers and employment guarantees will provide income to one million poor people over the course of five years.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nigeria’s National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB) Expected to Form MFB Trust Fund by End of Month
Having obtained formal consent for the project from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), a Nigerian regulatory agency, the National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB), a trade group of 820 Nigerian microfinance institutions (MFIs), is expected to form a trust fund before the end of May to protect members from liquidity shocks.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Acumen Fund, Grameen Foundation Make $1.7m Quasi-Equity Investment in Kenyan Microfinance Institution Juhudi Kilimo
The Acumen Fund, a US-based nonprofit venture fund that invests in entrepreneurial approaches to reduce poverty, recently partnered with Grameen Foundation, a US-based nonprofit organization that works with microfinance institutions (MFIs), to make a quasi-equity investment totaling USD 1.75 million in Juhudi Kilimo Company Limited (Juhudi Kilimo), a Kenyan MFI.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Establishes “Flexible Financing Facility” for Countries in Latin America, Caribbean
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a US-based multilateral finance institution that operates in Latin America and the Caribbean, has established a “Flexible Financing Facility” (FFF) that will give Latin American and Caribbean countries flexibility in loan terms and conditions as well as allowing the use of hedges to manage interest rate and currency risks associated with loans from IDB [1].