The Quantum Group of Funds, which consists of several privately owned hedge funds based in the Netherlands and Cayman Islands and managed by George Soros through Soros Fund Management, has purchased 300,000 shares in SKS Microfinance from Yatish Trading Company Pvt Ltd, an Indian securities firm.
Category: Deals
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Institution Village Financial Services Private Limited (VFS) Partners with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) to Improve Access to Safe Drinking Water via Microloans in India
Village Financial Services Private Limited (VFS), a microfinance institution (MFI) in eastern India, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a consumer goods company based in Mumbai, India, to improve access to safe drinking water. The partnership will enable poor households to take a loan at a zero rate of interest to buy HUL’s Pureit water purifiers.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC) Provides $12b in Microloans to Rural Farmers in First 3 Months of 2010, More Than During All of 2009
The Agricultural Bank of China Limited (ABC), a state-owned bank with total assets of USD 5.6 billion as of 2009, has reportedly provided microloans of USD 12.2 billion to Chinese farmers within the first three months of 2010.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: German Asset Management Firm, Finance In Motion, Signs the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment
Finance in Motion (FIM), a German asset management firm with EUR 800 million under advisory, has signed the United Nations’ (UNs’) Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), thereby pledging to integrate sustainability into its investment processes. The PRI are declarations jointly developed by the UN Environment Program Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Syndicate $164m Debt Financing Package for Russia’s Transcapitalbank
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a London-based financial services institution, have jointly raised USD 164 million of debt financing for Transcapitalbank, a Russian bank which primarily supports small and medium-sized enterprises and has total assets of RUB 58 billion (USD 1.9 billion) at December 31, 2009.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Triple Jump’s Oxfam Novib Microfinance Fund Provides Loan to Egyptian Microfinance Institution Al Tadamun
Triple Jump, a Dutch microfinance investment manager, recently reported to MicroCapital that is has provided a loan in local currency for an unspecified amount to Al Tadamun, an Egyptian microfinance institution (MFI) with total assets of USD 8.6 million in 2008.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Promoters of Indian Microfinance Institution (MFI), Bharatiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (BSFL), Buy Back Seven Percent Stake from ICICI Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Shorecap International Limited
Promoters of Bharatiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (BSFL), the microfinance arm of BASIX Group, have announced that they will buy back a seven percent stake in BSFL, or roughly INR 850 million (USD 18 million), from existing share holders. A report from TheHinduBusinessLine.com quoted Mr Sajeev Viswanathan, Chief Executive Officer at BSFL, as saying, “We are doing this as we wish to have control over the business and to continue our own source of capital.” The promoters stake of BASIX will go up from 23 percent to 30 percent. The stake would be bought from Indian public charitable trust, ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth; microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), International Finance Corporation (IFC); and US financial institution, Shorecap International Limited. ICICI will most likely exit from the company by selling its 2.8 percent stake, while the others may sell just part of their stakes.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Disburses $25m to Zambia National Commercial Bank PLC (Zanaco)
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has announced that it will loan USD 25 million to Zambia National Commercial Bank PLC (Zanaco) to help increase access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly in the agricultural sector. A press release from IFC reports that Zanaco plans to use the loan to help expand its lending to less developed and rural regions of Zambia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund and responsAbility Mikrofinanz-Fonds Invest $1.09m in Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Apoyo Integral in El Salvador and Forjadores Negocios in Mexico
responsAbility, a Swiss microfinance investment vehicle (MIV) manager, recently reported to MicroCapital that it has executed debt investments totaling the equivalent of nearly USD 1.1 million in microfinance institutions (MFIs) in El Salvador and Mexico.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Assists Jordan in Introducing Secured Lending, Benefit Seen for Microfinance Institutions
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has announced that it will assist Jordan in developing a legal and institutional framework for secured lending, with the goal of reducing the cost of lending and expanding the availability of credit to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A recent press release from IFC states that it is advising Jordan’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) as it develops legislation to regulate secured lending – a type of lending involving the use of moveable assets, such as equipment and inventory, as collateral for a loan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: $1m Investment from Wells Fargo Helps Grameen America Open Microfinance Bank in San Francisco, Its Fifth in the US
Grameen America, a microlender in the US whose board is chaired by Dr Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, has made plans to open its fifth branch in the United States. Grameen America, which already has three branches in New York City and one in Omaha, Nebraska, announced that it will use USD 1 million in equity investments from the Community Lending and Investment division of the financial services provider, Wells Fargo and Company, to open a new branch bank in San Francisco, California.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund and Mikrofinanz-Fonds Provide Loans Totaling $5.1m to Pro Mujer Bolivia, Coffee Central Agricultural Cooperatives COCLA LTDA (COCLA) of Peru and Asociacion Union de Cafetaleros Ecologicos (Unicafec) of Peru
The responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund and the responsAbility Mikrofinanz-Fonds, microfinance investment vehicles founded by responsAbility Social Investments AG, recently reported to MicroCapital that they have provided debt financing to the Bolivian arm of Pro Mujer, a microfinance institution supporting poor women in Latin America; Coffee Central Agricultural Cooperatives COCLA LTDA (COCLA), a Peruvian coffee cooperative; and Asociacion Union de Cafetaleros Ecologicos (Unicafec), a Peruvian coffee producers association.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Triple Jump Provides $2m Debt Financing to Mexican Microfinance Institution EnConfianza and $500,000 to Cambodia’s Credit Microfinance Institution
Triple Jump, a Dutch microfinance investment manager, recently reported to MicroCapital that its ASN-Novib Fund, a microfinance investment vehicle with assets of USD 101 million as of fiscal 2009, has provided USD 2 million in debt financing to Mexican microfinance institution EnConfianza and KHR 2 billion (USD 500,000) to Cambodia’s Credit Microfinance Institution.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Triple Jump Loans $8.5m to South American Microfinance Institutions WWB Popayan, Fondesurco and Funbodem
Triple Jump, a Dutch microfinance investment manager, recently reported to MicroCapital that is has provided a total of USD 8.5 million debt financing to three South American microfinance institutions.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Triple Jump Loans $8.5m to South American Microfinance Institutions WWB Popayan, Fondesurco and Funbodem
Triple Jump, a Dutch microfinance investment manager, recently reported to MicroCapital that is has provided a total of USD 8.5 million debt financing to three South American microfinance institutions.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: African Capital and Business Support (ACBS) Partners with Suisse Bank Plc and Smart Link to Provide $6.7m Line of Credit to Nigerian Microfinance Banks
Suisse Bank Public Limited Company, a private bank based in London, and Smart Link, an Information Technology (IT) consulting group based in Dubai, have signed a deal with African Capital and Business Support (ACBS), a Nigerian financial intermediary, to provide a NGN 1 billion (USD 6.7 million) credit line to Nigerian microfinance institutions (MFIs). According to Mr Bejamin Aduli, the vice chairman of ACBS, the first year of the four-year loans will be interest-free, however, a 9.5 annual percent interest rate will take effect thereafter. To access the credit line, each MFI must have 12 percent of the amount they are seeking on reserve and be majority held by nonprofit interests. Auditors from ACBS will regularly monitor the accounts of the MFIs.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund and responsAbility Mikrofinanz-Fonds Loan $2m to Microfinance Institution (MFI) Eskhata Bank in Tajikistan
responsAbility Social Investment Services, a Swiss-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV) manager, recently reported to MicroCapital that it has executed debt investments totaling USD 2 million to the microfinance institution (MFI), Eskhata Bank, in Tajikistan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI) Global Fund to Invest $5m in Triodos Microfinance Fund
The Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI), a partnership between the Norwegian public and private sectors that provides assistance for microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing countries, has recently announced that its Global Fund will make an investment of EUR 4 million (equivalent to USD 5 million) in Triodos Microfinance Fund, a microfinance investment vehicle based in Luxembourg with total assets of USD 36.2 million.