Myanmar Finance International Limited (MFIL), a microfinance institution owned by Myanmar Investments International Limited (MIIL), Myanmar Finance Company Limited (MFCL) and the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund), recently announced that it has secured a local-currency loan facility worth USD 1 million from Switzerland-based Symbiotics.
Category: Deals
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: COMUBA of Benin, COOPEC SIFA of Togo Borrow $1m from Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GGAMF)
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending the following loans in phases over three years: the equivalent of USD 615,000 to La Coopérative Des Membres Unis Bethel Actions (COMUBA) in Benin and the equivalent of USD 350,000 to Coopérative d’Epargne et de Crédit des Soutien aux Initiatives de Femmes pour l’Autopromotion (COOPEC SIFA) in Togo.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Equator’s Shore Capital Fund III Raises $15m from AfDB to Invest in Financial Inclusion in Africa
The African Development Bank (AfDB), a multilateral institution providing loans and grants to governments and private companies in Africa, recently agreed to invest USD 15 million in Shore Capital Fund III, which is managed by Equator Capital Partners LLC, a US-based “impact” fund manager, with the goal of “expand[ing] access to affordable and responsible financial products and services for the underserved market.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GGAMF) Loans $1.7m in Kyrgyzstan to First MicroCredit Company (FMCC), Oxus
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending loans totaling the following amounts in phases over three years: the euro equivalent of USD 1.15 million to First MicroCredit Company (FMCC) and the euro equivalent of USD 574,000 to Oxus Kyrgyzstan.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO Lending $4m to Babban Gona to Provide Business Services on Credit to Farmers in Nigeria
Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden, a development bank controlled by the Dutch government, recently offered a loan of USD 4 million to Babban Gona, a Nigerian for-profit company that provides business services to small-scale farmers such as assistance with crop insurance; soil analysis; marketing; distribution; and access to seeds, fertilizer and storage facilities.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Lending $5.6m to Romania’s Garanti Leasing to Finance Women-owned SMEs
Garanti Leasing, a subsidiary of the Garanti Group Romania specializing in financing real estate, vehicles and agricultural equipment, recently announced it will borrow EUR 5 million (USD 5.6 million) from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, in order to increase funding for women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Raises $18.5m for Georgia’s TBC Bank via MSME Bond Platform
Tbilisi Business Center (TBC) Bank, Georgia-based commercial bank, recently announced that it has raised GEL 45 million (USD 18.5 million) from one or more unidentified investors via the MSME bond platform of Symbiotics SA, a Swiss investment services provider focused on micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IDB Loans Colombia $450m for Goals Including Facilitating Access to Capital for SMEs, Improving Financial Inclusion
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a US-based multilateral finance institution that operates in Latin America and the Caribbean, recently announced it will extend a loan of USD 450 million to the government of Colombia with the goal of helping to “solidify macroeconomic stability, boost development, encourage public/private partnership financing, strengthen regulation of the financial system [and] promote financial inclusion.”
SPECIAL REPORT: Who Is Responsible in a Microfinance Equity Exit?
Now that three years have passed since CGAP and the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI) at Accion published “The Art of the Responsible Exit in Microfinance Equity Sales,” this subject deserves a re-visit and perhaps expansion of the paper’s general principles into industry guidelines.
As the financial inclusion and impact investment industries mature and grow, so does the issue of how investors committed to advancing financial inclusion can “exit responsibly” from
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, FMO, SBI-FMO Invest $22m in Equity in Sri Lanka’s Sanasa Development Bank
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the US-based World Bank Group; the government-backed Netherlands Development Finance Company (which is also known by its Dutch acronym FMO); and Singapore-based SBI-FMO Emerging Asia Financial Sector Fund recently placed equity investments totaling USD 22 million in Sri Lankan-based Sanasa Development Bank (SDB Bank).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFAD, Cambodian Government, Private Sector Investing $60m in Microfinance, Infrastructure Program to Help 15k Farming Families Expand Operations
The government of Cambodia recently announced it has commenced the first phase of a project intended to aid 15,000 small-scale farming families in growing their operations by “building infrastructure to help farmers, and offering special microfinance deals.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to Invest $1.5b in Infrastructure, Microfinance, SMEs Over 5 Years
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of US-based World Bank Group, recently agreed to launch a multifaceted project in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a development institution of the Japanese government.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFU, Finnfund, Danish Family Office Invest $8m in BOPA for Asian Microfinance
Base of Pyramid Asia (BOPA), a microfinance investment company in Singapore, recently informed MicroCapital that it has raised a total of USD 8 million in equity funding from the Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), which is owned by the Danish government; the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund), which is backed by the Finnish government; and a Danish family office.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Water.org Launches WaterCredit Investment Fund 3 to Facilitate Access to Sanitation, Clean Water in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines
WaterEquity, the “social impact investment” subsidiary of US-based NGO Water.org, recently launched the WaterCredit Investment Fund 3 with the goal of raising USD 50 million to “invest in enterprises serving water and sanitation needs among the world’s poor.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FINCA Armenia Completes $7m Dual-currency Bond Issue
FINCA Armenia, a microfinance institution based in Yerevan, recently issued bonds worth USD 4 million and AMD 1.5 billion (USD 3 million) listed on the NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Telkom Kenya Shutting Down Its Orange Money Mobile Money Service
Telkom Kenya, a telecommunications provider in Kenya, recently announced that July 4 will be the last day it will offer the mobile money service Orange Money.
MICROFINANCE BRIEF: Pakistan’s Khushhali Microfinance Bank Borrows $20m from ADB for Farmers, MSMEs
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), a Philippines-based multilateral institution, recently announced it will loan USD 20 million to Khushhali Microfinance Bank Limited of Pakistan to “expand access to credit for agriculture-related borrowers and small businesses.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Vodacom Paying $2.6b to Its Majority Shareholder, Vodafone, for 35% Equity Stake in Owner of Kenya’s M-Pesa Mobile Money Service, Safaricom
Vodacom, a unit of UK-based Vodafone Group Plc that provides mobile communications services to 61 million subscribers in Africa, is paying Vodafone ZAR 34.6 billion (USD 2.6 billion) for a 34.94-percent stake in Safaricom, a Kenyan mobile network operator.