The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda (MINECOFIN), the Rwandan government’s authority on finance; Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR), a Kigali-based investment company that promotes financial inclusion in Rwanda; and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank (KfW), a German development bank, recently have launched the Microfinance Challenge Fund Rwanda (MCFR), which will deploy EUR 3 million (USD 3.98 million) as loans to support microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Rwanda.
Category: Deals
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe (GGF) Lends $20m to Yapi Kredi Leasing of Turkey to Support Use of Energy-Efficient Equipment
The Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe (GGF), a Germany-based fund that invests in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources in Southeast Europe, has loaned EUR 15 million (USD 19.9 million) to Yapi Kredi Leasing, a Turkey-based subsidiary of Turkey’s Yapi Kredi Bank, with the aim of expanding Yapi Kredi’s “sustainable long-term energy efficient equipment financing.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Likely to Loan $150m in Jordan Including to Bank Al Etihad, Cairo Amman Bank for On-lending to Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, is considering setting up a senior unsecured credit facility in the amount of USD 150 million for banks in Jordan for on-lending to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Likely to Loan Morocco’s Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP), Affiliates $133m for On-lending to Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a multilateral institution headquartered in London, is considering disbursing a loan of up to EUR 100 million (USD 133 million) to Banque Centrale Populaire, a member of the Moroccan mutual banking group Groupe Banque Centrale Populaire (GBCP), as well as to 10 affiliated “regional popular banks”[1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company Purchases 10% Equity Stake in Rocket Internet for $445m with Eye on Mobile Payments
The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), a Philippines-based telecommunications company, reportedly has purchased a 10-percent stake in Rocket Internet, a Germany-based web service provider and e-commerce investment firm, for EUR 333 million (USD 445 million).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) Ghana Partners with Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Ghana to Improve Mobile Money Systems
Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) Ghana, the Ghanaian arm of South Africa-based MTN, reportedly has partnered with several unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Ghana to allow the MFIs’ customers to use the MTN Mobile Money service to make loan payments.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: South Korean Hana Bank Establishes Microfinance Institution (MFI) in Myanmar
Hana Bank, a Seoul-based commercial bank that is the primary banking subsidiary of South Korean Hana Financial Group, reportedly has announced the establishment of Hana Microfinance, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Myanmar.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to Loan $100m to El Salvador for On-Lending to Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a US-based multilateral finance institution operating in Latin America and the Caribbean, reportedly has approved a loan of USD 100 million to promote lending to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in El Salvador.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Janalakshmi Financial Services to Buy $90m in Products, Services From International Business Machines (IBM)
Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI) that offers lending and insurance services, and International Business Machines (IBM), a US-based information technology consulting company, have signed a six-year agreement worth INR 5.5 billion (USD 90 million) to provide JFS with IBM products and services in support of the MFI’s proposed growth in India.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Econet’s EcoCash, MasterCard to Provide Debit Cards to Mobile Money Users in Zimbabwe
EcoCash, a mobile money service offered by South Africa-based mobile communications company Econet Wireless, and MasterCard Incorporated, a US-based payments and technology company, reportedly have reached an agreement to issue approximately 3 million MasterCard debit cards to EcoCash customers in Zimbabwe over the next five years.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Accion’s Frontier Investments Invests Equity in Britain’s Eseye, Provider of Machine-to-Machine “M2M” Services That Can Facilitate Utility Service to Low-Income Households
Accion’s Frontier Investments Group, a venture-equity initiative that seeks to invest in companies serving financially excluded populations, has invested an undisclosed amount in Eseye Limited, a UK-based machine-to-machine (M2M) technology provider, during Eseye’s series-B financing round, which raised a total of USD 9 million.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Issues $30m in Bonds to MicroCred China; India’s Arohan, Grameen Koota, Annapura Microfinance
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based investment company that focuses on emerging markets, has completed bond transactions worth a total of USD 30 million with MicroCred China, an affiliate of the France-based MicroCred and PlaNet Finance groups; Arohan Financial Services Private Ltd., an Indian financial services company; Grameen Financial Services Private Ltd., a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI) also known as Grameen Koota; and Annapurna Microfinance Private Ltd., an MFI based in the Indian state of Odisha.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Loans $8m to Mongolia’s Khan Bank for On-Lending to Support Value Chains That Include Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based multilateral institution, reportedly has issued a loan of MNT 15 billion (USD 8 million) to Khan Bank, a commercial bank based in Mongolia, as the final tranche of a total of MNT 47 billion (USD 25 million) to be on-lent by Khan Bank to suppliers of micro-, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Mongolia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sanad Fund for MSME Lends $9m to Tunisie Leasing to Support Micro-, Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Tunisia
The Sanad Fund for MSME (micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises), a Germany-based fund providing loans in the Middle East and North Africa, has agreed to loan EUR 7 million (USD 9.4 million) to Tunisie Leasing, a Tunisian leasing company that focuses on serving MSMEs in Tunisia and Algeria.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Loans $13m to Microfinance Institution FONDEP of Morocco
ResponsAbility Investments, a company based in Zurich that primarily invests in developing economies, recently notified MicroCapital that is has disbursed EUR 10 million (USD 13 million) in senior refinancing to Fondation pour le Développement Local et le Partenariat Micro-Crédit (FONDEP), a Moroccan MFI with the mission “to use microcredit to help women and youth create their own microenterprises and generate income.”
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Absolute Portfolio Management’s Vision Microfinance Funds Loan $14m to Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, China, India, Peru, Tajikistan
Absolute Portfolio Management (APM), an arm of Austria-based asset group C-Quadrat, recently informed MicroCapital that it has distributed credits in several currencies that total approximately the equivalent of USD 13.5 million to unspecified microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Armenia, China, India, Peru and Tajikistan through its Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance and Dual Return Fund-Vision Microfinance Local Currency.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: AccessBank Azerbaijan Receives $15m Loan from Green for Growth Fund for Financing Energy-Efficient Projects
AccessBank Azerbaijan, a microfinance bank (MFB) in Azerbaijan, has borrowed USD 15 million from the Green for Growth Fund, Southeast Europe (GGF), a European public-private partnership that focuses on improving energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy sources in Southeastern Europe, with the aim of increasing AccessBank’s financing of energy-efficient projects.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: World Bank Group (WBG) Loans $12m, Donates $12m to Government of Mozambique for Financial Sector Reform, Including to Boost Financial Inclusion
The World Bank Group (WBG), a US-based multilateral financial institution recently approved a USD 25 million financing package consisting of a loan of USD 12.5 million and a grant of USD 12.5 million to support the “First Programmatic Financial Sector Development Policy Operation (DPO)”[1] of the government of Mozambique.