The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a policy and research center housed at the World Bank dedicated to advancing financial access to the world’s poor, has released a path breaking report in February 2009 entitled, “Shedding Light on Microfinance Equity Valuation: Past and Present,” produced with limited analytical support from banking firm JPMorgan Chase & Co. The white paper is notable in providing an empirically grounded analysis of how financial valuation methods are actually applied by external actors to MFIs and other lending institutions with poverty alleviation goals. This is made possible by CGAP’s collection of information on 144 private equity transactions, the largest such dataset gathered to date, as well as information on 10 MFIs and other low income focused lenders that have raised funds through the issuance of securities. The original report is available at:
Search Results for: "Legatum"
MICROCAPITAL STORY: FINO and NCR to Install 30 Thousand Smartcard Micro-Deposit Machines in India Over 5 Years in an Effort to Reduce the Cost of Microfinance Services
Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd. (FINO), an Indian technology company that produces biometric smartcards, collaborated with the National Cash Register Corporation (NCR), the automated teller machine (ATM) manufacturing company, unveiled a new micro depository machine in Mumbai called the EasyPoint 70 Tijori. As part of the partnership, FINO has committed to release 1000 of the machines, and has reported to have already reached an accord to roll-out an additional 30 thousand machines over the next five-years. However, the company has not specified who will buy the machines. The machine is designed for semi-urban and rural areas, which are traditionally underserved by banks. It is estimated that 560 million people in India (about 51 per cent of the population) are financially underserved. The companies hope to reach 25 million unbanked people with the EasyPoint 70 Tijori by 2011.
NEWS WIRE: India: Indian Microfinance Grows Fast But Without Purpose
Source: Business Today.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: FINO Reaches Two-million Unbanked Populations in India and Releases Micro-Loan Management Software
Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd. (FINO), a technology organization that produces biometric smartcards and micro-loan management software, has completed 2 million enrollments of customers in India. The number of enrollments increased from 1 million to 2 million in less than 4 months with an average of 20,000 customers being enrolled per day. FINO’s rapid growth is in part due to the extensive network of banks and other financial and government institutions utilizing their technology. That network includes Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, DGB, ICICI Bank, ING Vysya, OBC, PNB, and UBI.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Madura Micro Finance to receive USD 4.52 Million from Unitus Equity Fund L.P. to expand upon Rural Microcredit Products in India
Unitus Equity Fund L.P., a Seattle-based private equity investment firm announced a funding of Rs 22 Crores (USD 4.52 million) to Madura Micro Finance Limited (MMFL) an Indian microfinance institution. Madura is a non-banking finance company servicing India’s rural poor population. It has credit networks throughout the 182 branches within the rural Tamil Nadue province, and mostly works in association with large commercial banks as sources of credit.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: How Will The Center For Financial Inclusion Positively Affect Commercial Microfinance?
ACCION International, a microfinance organization founded in 1961 to address the desperate poverty in Latin America’s cities, has recently launched The Center For Financial Inclusion , a collaborative effort to promote commercial microfinance and simultaneously ensure that the needs of poor clients are being met. A key aspect of the Center is to connect the expertise of the non-profit, private and academic sectors to enhance the quality of microfinance. It is a sign of the times as commercial banks have been increasingly involved in socially responsible investing and the debate about what role for-profit activity should play in the microfinance sector continues to intensify.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Indian Technology Company, Comat, Raises $12.5m from Omiydar Network and Unitus Equity Fund of the United States
Comat, a technology company providing services to rural India, recently raised INR 60 crore (USD 12.5m) from the Omidyar Network and the Unitus Equity Fund (UEF). According to a Business Standard article, the new investment will allow “Comat to expand to new States, accelerate service delivery for training and financial services [and] strengthen management bandwidth.”
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: A Little World
A Little World (ALW) is a company which creates technologies used in extending branchless banking services to the poor. While ALW is a for-profit corporation, its vision is to “touch a billion people through innovative technologies and alliances at the bottom of the pyramid for delivering multiple financial services at the lowest cost through mainstream financial institutions.” Currently, the company’s main project is the ZERO platform, which provides banking technologies via mobile phones.
WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: SNS Asset Management
SNS Asset Management is a subsidiary of SNS REAAL, the fifth largest financial institution in the Netherlands. The asset management division was founded in 1997 after the merger of SNS bank and De Hollandse Koopmansbank. The firm, which is a participant in the United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investing initiative (PRI), currently has EUR 19b in assets under management.
PRESS RELEASE: A Little World a Branchless Banking Platform, Closes Series B
Source: A. Little. World .
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Nonprofit Unitus Launches For-profit Financial Advisory Firm ‘Unitus Capital’
Unitus, Inc., an international nonprofit that seeks to advance market-based solutions to poverty, recently launched Unitus Capital, a for-profit financial advisory firm that aims to connect capital market investors with social enterprises focused on creating both social and financial returns. Operating as a legally independent, for-profit institution, Unitus Capital represents the transformation of nonprofit Unitus’ capital markets business unit. It will remain a strategic affiliate of Unitus. The nascent institution has received USD 5.5 million in seed funding from private investors including WEGA Support GmbH, Robert Gay, co-founder and CEO of H&G Capital Partners, and William S. Price III, Founding Partner of Texas Pacific Group. Unitus Capital did not disclose its number of employees; nonprofit Unitus currently employs 21-100 individuals, according to nonprofit research firm GuideStar. The firm’s Managing Directors include Kylie Charlton and Eric Savage, both founding members of Unitus Capital. Both Charlton and Savage were most recently employees of nonprofit Unitus’ capital markets unit. Before Unitus, both worked for Citigroup in separate investment banking units. For a complete profile on Unitus Capital’s management team, please click here.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Pochampally Chenetha Kalanetha Collectives, Samhita Microfinance and Synergics Awarded at the 2008 Srijan Microfinance Business Plan Competition hosted by Intellecap, Standard Chartered Bank, Aavishkaar Goodwell and Financial Express
Srijan recently announced the winners of its 2008 Business Plan Competition, reported by MicroCapital here. Cash prizes were given to the top three contestants, with the first prize sponsored specifically by Standard Chartered Bank. The winners will also have the opportunity to meet investors, though Srijan has not yet specified which investors. All finalists will be able to create accounts on the India Development Gateway Portal, as reported here by MicroCapital.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Bangladesh-based ASA to Allocate Funds from Historic $150m Equity Deal Toward Microlending Outside Bangladesh
ASA International, a holding company managed and partially owned by ASA, one of Bangladesh’s largest NGOs, has announced it will use USD $150 million of equity raised from foreign investors to expand commercial lending outside Bangladesh.
MICROCAPITAL STORY: ASA International Secures $125m in Largest Microfinance Equity Commitment to Date
Catalyst Microfinance Investors (CMI) of Mauritius announced on Tuesday that it had raised USD 125 million through the largest microfinance equity sale to date. Investors included private individuals as well as a number of institutional investors such as the Dutch pension fund, ABP and the US financial services organization, TIAA-CREF. The majority of the funds will be channeled to ASA International of Bangladesh, who will use the increased capital to expand operations in Africa and Asia.
MICROCAPITAL SPECIAL FEATURE: 2007 Equity Investments in Small and Medium Sized Microbanks, Part 3 of 3
December 10, MicroCapital.org featured Part 2 of a series on 2007 Equity Investments in Small and Medium Sized Microbanks. Previously, detailed information was provided on institutions with less than USD 100 million in assets. Here, in Part 3, we provide detailed financial and outreach information on microbanks with total assets greater than USD 100 million and less than USD 200 million. The institutions are presented in ascending order based on asset size.
NEWS WIRE: Blackstone, Carlyle Eye Microfinance
MICROCAPITAL STORY: Indian Microfinance Industry to Expand Outreach, Products, and Services
The Economic Times, a division of the India Times, reports on the strength of the Indian microfinance industry, and its possible innovative role in the supply chain. Large companies like SHARE Microfin Limited, SKS, Basix and Spandana maintain vast customer networks. According to the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse, SHARE has 826,517 active borrowers, while SKS has 513,108. Basix reports 198,282 active borrowers, and Spandana, 916,261. Driven by the power of private equity investment, these companies hope to expand in the near future to over 5 million customers apiece. As reported by the Microcapital Monitor, in March of this year SKS received a private equity investment from Sequoia (a US-based private equity fund) and Unitus (a global microfinance accelerator) of USD 11.5 mn. To date, this had been the largest ever private equity investment in Indian microfinance. However, it was soon eclipsed by a USD 27 mn private investment to SHARE by Legatum (an international investment group) and Aavishkaar Goodwell (an India-based for-profit business development company). Although these insitutions aim to increase their reach in the interest of profit, this broad web of microloan consumers could be tapped for peddling insurance, money transfer, procurement and supply chain financing for agricultural and allied activities.
NEWS WIRE: Indian Bank Trio Take Stake in Tech Outfit for Microfinancing the Poor
Calcutta: Three public sector banks — Union Bank of India, Indian Bank and Corporation Bank — and the Life Insurance Corporation have picked up a 30 per cent stake in Financial Information Network & Operations Ltd (Fino) for about Rs 35 crore. Fino provides cost-effective technology solutions to help banks and insurance companies garner business from remote areas without setting up branches or ATMs.