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.

The infusion will be used to finance additional microfinance investments in Asia. As of 2017, BOPA holds investments in microfinance institutions in Cambodia, East Timor, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Tajikistan and Vietnam. It holds assets of USD 6 million, and its investees have an aggregate loan portfolio of USD 63 million serving 147,000 people.

IFU provides advisory services to Danish companies investing in developing countries and finances projects that enhance economic and social development in Africa, Latin America and Europe. Its investment portfolio totals DKK 17.7 billion (USD 2.66 billion).

Finnfund, which was established in 1980, seeks to “finance ventures that use Finnish technology, cooperate with Finnish partners on a long-term basis or [participate in investments expected to] generate major environmental or social benefits.” For 2015, it reported total assets of EUR 377 million (USD 420 million) and a net profit of EUR 5.1 million (USD 5.7 million).

By Sascha Strobl, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources:

BOPA press release:
http://www.bopa-microfinance.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Press-Release-BOPA-concludes-capital-raise-v13oct15CHA.pdf

BOPA:
http://www.bopa-microfinance.com/

IFU:
https://www.ifu.dk/

Finnfund:
https://www.finnfund.fi/

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