by Sally Levy -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: SEEDFINANCE Corporation of the Philippines receives $1m Microfinance Investment Loan from MicroVest I during May 2009

SEEDFINANCE Corporation, a microfinance lender headquartered in Manila, the Philippines, received a USD 1 million loan from MicroVest I (MVI) in May 2009.  SEEDFINANCE provides wholesale financing to Filipino microfinance institutions (MFIs) and loans to small enterprises. MicroVest is an investment firm which raises funds to invest in MFIs in emerging markets. This is its first loan to SEEDFINANCE and in the Philippines. This deal was reported to the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) Microfinance Dealbook, a monthly report on microfinance capital market transactions.  

by Steven Craig -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: MicroVest Finances Microfinance Growth in Latin America with Debt Investment in PRISMA and FUNBODEM

MicroVest Capital Management, a global microfinance intermediary that provides capital to growing microfinance institutions (MFIs) in emerging markets, has completed two first-time investments in two Latin American MFIs. MicroVest made its first local currency loan of 2.4 million Peruvian Soles (USD 750,000 equivalent) to PRISMA, the second largest unregulated MFI in Peru, and two weeks later structured a USD 750,000 loan with Calvert Social Investment Foundation to FUNBODEM, an unregulated MFI operating in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

by the MicroCapital Team -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: The Calvert Foundation, in Partnership with Microvest, Announce their USD 1.5 million Loan to Ghana Based Microfinance Institution Sinapi Aba Trust

Microvest, a global microfinance intermediary, and the Calvert Foundation, a community investment firm, have announced their USD 1.5 million investment into Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT), a non-profit microfinance institution (MFI), headquartered in Kumasi, Ghana.
Continue reading “MICROCAPITAL STORY: The Calvert Foundation, in Partnership with Microvest, Announce their USD 1.5 million Loan to Ghana Based Microfinance Institution Sinapi Aba Trust”

by the MicroCapital Team -

MICROCAPITAL STORY: MicroVest Capital Management and Lehman Brothers Announce the Launch of MicroAccess Trust 2007

MicroVest Capital Management, a US-based microfinance investment firm, and global investment bank Lehman Brothers close on the MicroAccess Trust 2007. This marks the first Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) for MicroVest. The trust was arranged by Lehman Brothers, while MicroVest originated and services the USD 39 million portfolio of unsecured loans to microfinance institutions (MFIs) around the world.
Continue reading “MICROCAPITAL STORY: MicroVest Capital Management and Lehman Brothers Announce the Launch of MicroAccess Trust 2007”

by the MicroCapital Team -

Parnassus Equity Income Fund Invests $500,000 over 2 Years in MicroVest 1, LP Microfinance Fund and Becomes MicroVest’s First American Mutual Fund Investor

The Parnassus Equity Income Fund has invested a 2 year, $500,000 note subscription in MicroVest 1, LP, a microfinance fund established in 2004. It was founded by three non-profit organisations; CARE, an international non-profit humanitarian organisation; Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), a US and Canadian Christian business and professional association; and SEED Capital Development Fund, a US non-profit organisation which aims to link MFIs to local and international capital markets.

Continue reading “Parnassus Equity Income Fund Invests $500,000 over 2 Years in MicroVest 1, LP Microfinance Fund and Becomes MicroVest’s First American Mutual Fund Investor”

by the MicroCapital Team -

MicroVest Obtains a Microfinance Investor, the Canadian Meritas Jantzi Social Index Fund, and Syndicates a Loan with Calvert Investment and The Dignity Fund, to the Ecuadorian based Microbank, D-Miro

MicroVest One, LP is a USD 25 mm is a fund, managed by MicroVest Capital Management, LLC. MicroVest’s goal is to expand the capacity of existing, profitable MFIs throughout the world while building capital markets that work for the poor. MicroVest is based in Bethesda, Maryland and was founded by CARE, a humanitarian organization fighting global poverty, MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates), an association that provides access to savings and credit for the poor, and the Seed Capital Development Fund a non-profit charity founded in 1991, that is dedicated to economic development through the support of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other non-governmental development institutions in developing countries.

Continue reading “MicroVest Obtains a Microfinance Investor, the Canadian Meritas Jantzi Social Index Fund, and Syndicates a Loan with Calvert Investment and The Dignity Fund, to the Ecuadorian based Microbank, D-Miro”

by the MicroCapital Team -

Thanks to a Series of Microfinance Investments from Oikocredit, Triodos-Doen & Hivos-Triodos, Dignity Fund and Microvest, Kazakhstan Loan Fund Receives $4.38 Million

The Kazakhstan Loan Fund (KLF), an NGO working to provide financing to small-scale entrepreneurs throughout Kazakhstan, recently received a series of loans from a number of Microfinance Investment funds. Founded in 1997, KLF had 16,436 active borrowers at the end of 2005, with a gross loan portfolio of $11.2 million out of $14.4 million in total assets. Return on assets was 8.98%. Total Equity was reported at $5.02 million, with a debt to equity ratio of 186.73%.

Continue reading “Thanks to a Series of Microfinance Investments from Oikocredit, Triodos-Doen & Hivos-Triodos, Dignity Fund and Microvest, Kazakhstan Loan Fund Receives $4.38 Million”

by the MicroCapital Team -

The Swiss ResponsAbility Fund, Oikocredit, and MicroVest Make $5.8 Million Microfinance Investment in Fund Opportunity Russia

Fund Opportunity Russia (FORA), “the largest non-bank microfinance organization in Russia,” recently received a $2 million loan from the Swiss ResponsAbility Fund, $1.8 million from Netherlands based Oikocredit, and $2 million from U.S. MicroVest. FORA’s total assets were $16.39 million as of December 2004 and it was founded by Opportunity International Network, a US non-profit “network.” Opportunity has 48 member MFIs that post a combined total loan portfolio of $241.55 million. FORA is therefore larger than the average Opportunity member with a total loan portfolio to microentrepreneurs of approximately $15.28 million. Founded by Swiss financial service companies Credit Suisse, Raiffeisen Banking Group, Baumann & Cie Banquiers, and the Andromeda Fund, the Swiss based ResponsAbility Fund seeks investment opportunities with both financial returns and social benefits. The fund’s assets in April 2005 were about $11.44 million. The ResponsAbility Fund typically provides loans from $50,000 to $1.5 million for a maximum of five years and at a rate equal to “LIBOR plus full cost plus full risk” to MFIs.

FORA’s second investor, Oikocredit, is an investment fund seeking “social investment opportunities in the South”. Oikocredit’s assets were at $304.66 million at the beginning of 2005, and it provides loans at a minimum of $50,000 and a maximum of $5 million to microfinance institutions (MFIs) for a maximum of ten years. Its “near market rates are equal to LIBOR plus partial cost plus partial risk.”

The third investor into FORA, MicroVest, is an investment firm that provides debt and equity capital to MFIs. With total fund assets at $14.4 million as of July 2005, MicroVest’s loans go from $500,000 to $3 million for a maximum of 30 years. No guarantees are required and its rate terms are “LIBOR plus partial cost plus partial risk, or LIBOR plus full cost plus full risk.”

Additional Resources

1) Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP): “Microfinance Capital Markets Update” is the best source for monthly updates on debt and equity deals in microfinance.
2) MIX Market: “FORA: Financial Data.”
3) MIX Market: “FORA: General Information.”
4) MIX Market: “ResponsAbility Fund: Fund Description.”
5) MIX Market: “ResponsAbility Fund: Fund Instruments.”
6) “Oikocredit: About Us.”
7) MIX Market: “Oikocredit: Fund Instruments.”
8) MIX Market: “Oikocredit: Fund Description.”
9) MIX Market: “MicroVest I: Fund Description.”
10) MIX Market: “MicroVest I: Fund Instruments.”
11) MicroCapital Blog: “Microfinance Networks (wholesale transnational): Defined and Listed.”
12) “Opportunity International Network: What We Do.”
13) “2004 Annual Report: Opportunity International.”
14) “ResponsAbility: Founding Institutions.”

by Ben Barba -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Khan Bank Raises $10m in Bond Sale to Vision Microfinance Dual Return Fund to Support Women’s SMEs in Mongolia

Symbiotics Investments, a Switzerland-based investor focused on smaller businesses in low- and middle- income countries, recently facilitated a bond issue channeling USD 10 million to Khan Bank, which serves individuals and companies of all sizes in Mongolia, to support UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality. Impact Asset Management (I-AM), a unit of Austria’s C-Quadrat Investment Group, bought the bond through its Vision

by Hasnat Aslam -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: CreditAccess Grameen Seeking $50m in Debt from IFC for Financial Inclusion of Women in India 

The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently moved to lend as much as USD 50 million in the form of a three-year senior loan to CreditAccess Grameen, a unit of CreditAccess India. The objective of the loan is to boost enterprise lending to women who live in

by Ryan Gauthier -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: KMF and Bereke of Kazakhstan, Vasham of Indonesia Borrow $5.1m from Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation

The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services primarily to microfinance institutions, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending the following local-currency loans in phases over three years: the equivalent of USD 3.9 million to KazMicroFinance LLC (KMF) of Kazakhstan, the equivalent of USD 550,000 to Bereke of Kazakhstan, and the equivalent of USD 660,000 to Vasham of Indonesia.

by Ryan Gauthier -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Advans Cote d’Ivoire, Aga Khan’s PAMF-Mali Borrowing $3.8m from Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation

The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to microfinance institutions and other social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has committed to extending the following local-currency loans in phases over three years: the equivalent of USD 2.9 million to Advans Cote d’Ivoire and the equivalent of USD 890,000 to Premiere Agence de MicroFinance (PAMF) Mali.

by A'kos Szebeni -

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lok Capital Sextuples Investment With Partial Exit from Indian “Socio-commercial” Outsourcing Firm RuralShores

Lok Capital (Lok), a Mauritius-based venture fund focused on the microfinance and social business sectors in India, reportedly has sold part of its equity stake in RuralShores Business Services, an India-based company offering business process outsourcing to public and private clients in the microfinance, banking, insurance, telecom and information technology sectors.