The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a development finance institution backed by the US government, recently invested USD 250 million through a senior debt facility in Bayport Management Limited, Mauritius-based network of microfinance institutions (MFIs) [1].
Tag: investment
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Financial Sector Development Program (FSD) Africa to Invest $2m in Microinsurance Innovation Laboratory of International Labor Organization’s (ILO’s) Impact Insurance Facility
The Financial Sector Development Program (FSD) Africa, a project funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID), will invest USD 1.8 million over the next four years in the “microinsurance innovation laboratory” to be developed by the Impact Insurance Facility (IIF) of the International Labor Organization (ILO), an agency of the United Nations.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Issues $22m in Bonds to Benefit Indian Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) Annapurna, ESAF Microfinance and Investment (EMFIL), Satin Creditcare
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based investment company that focuses on emerging markets, recently informed MicroCapital that it has completed bond transactions with a total value of USD 22 million.
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: ING’s Billion to Gain: Geographic Variations in Microfinance Impact; Indian Mobile Wallet Market Growth; Profiting From Financial Inclusion
“A Billion to Gain? Microfinance Clients Are Not Cut from the Same Cloth,” by G. Hieminga, R. Budjhawan, S. Eriksen, I. Unger; published by ING Bank; November 2015; 8 pages; available at: http://www.ingcb.com/insights/research/microfinance-emancipating-the-worlds-poorest
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Central Bank of West African States, Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector to invest $30m in Small, Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
Banque Centrale des Etats de L’Afrique (BCEAO), the central bank for eight West African countries, and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), a development finance institution affiliated with the Saudi Arabia-based Islamic Development Bank, recently agreed to provide USD 30 million to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Completes Bond Disbursements Totaling $5.5m to Microfinance Institution Prasac of Cambodia
Symbiotics Group, a Swiss for-profit provider of investment and business services, recently issued the second tranche of a bond totaling USD 5.5 million to Prasac, a Cambodian microfinance institution (MFI).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Luxembourg Directorate for Development and Cooperation (LuxDev) Donates $219k to Support Microfinance Institution (MFI) Asusu Of Niger to Train 550 Young Entrepreneurs
The Luxembourg Directorate for Development and Cooperation (LuxDev), a government-owned institution encouraging international development, has awarded a donation of EUR 200,000 (USD 218,000) to ADA, a Luxembourg-based nonprofit organization formerly known as Appui au Developpement Autonome. The donation is intended to assist Asusu, a Niger-based microfinance institution (MFI).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Loans $5m to Opportunity Bank Serbia for On-Lending to Micro-, Small Enterprises; Low-Income Households in Rural Serbia
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently announced that it will loan EUR 5 million (USD 5.4 million) to Opportunity Bank Serbia (OBS), a branch of US-based microfinance network Opportunity International, to improve access to finance for micro -and small enterprises (MSEs) and low-income households in rural areas of Serbia.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund (LIFT) Donates $4.5m to World Vision Myanmar for Microfinance Lending, Savings
The Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund, a Myanmar-based multi-donor trust fund, recently has donated a three-year USD 4.5 million grant to three organizations affiliated with US-based NGO World Vision, to aid approximately 100,000 people in gaining improved access to financial services.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Omidyar Network Leads Investment in eCurrency Mint to Support Technology That Enables Central Banks in Issuing Digital Currency
Omidyar Network, a US-based investment firm, recently made an investment of undisclosed amount in eCurrency Mint (eCM), an Ireland-based company that has developed a technology that enables central banks to issue digital currency, called eCurrency.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation Loans $340k in Local Currency to Senegal’s Mec Fadec, $930k to Tajikistan’s Humo & Partners
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has disbursed a local-currency, three-year loan equivalent to USD 340,000 to Mec Fadec, a Senegalese microfinance institution (MFI), and a one-year loan of USD 930,000 to Humo & Partners, a Tajikistan-based MFI.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: M-Kopa Solar Raises $19m in Private Equity Investment to Expand Pay-As-You-Go Model in East Africa
M-Kopa Solar, a Kenya-based “pay-as-you-go” solar energy supplier for homes in Africa that do not have traditional electricity connections, has raised KES 2 billion (USD 19 million) in an equity round led by London-based Generation Investment Management LLP.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ASN-Novib Microcredit Fund Goes Public on Euronext Stock Exchange
The ASN-Novib Microcredit Fund [EUR 54.07 -0.02%] [1], which is managed by the Algemene Spaarbank voor Nederland (ASN Bank), a Dutch bank, and Oxfam Novib, the Dutch branch of UK-based NGO Oxfam International, recently went public on Euronext, a stock exchange in the Dutch city of Amsterdam [2][3].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation Loans $1.6m to Hattha Kaksekar Limited of Cambodia, $1.2m to Sri Lanka’s VisionFund Lanka
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based provider of financial services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) and other social businesses, recently informed MicroCapital that it has issued the following two loans: (1) EUR 1.5 million (USD 1.6 million) to Hattha Kaksekar Limited (HKL), an MFI based in Cambodia that was founded in 1994 by Organisation Canadienne pour la Solidarite et le Developpement (OCSD) and Oxfam International; and (2) EUR 1.1 million (USD 1.2 million) to VisionFund Lanka, a unit of US-based VisionFund, which offers financial services to families living in poverty in the developing world through a network of MFIs in 36 countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Transition Fund Grants $11m to Moroccan Youth Microentrepreneurship Projects
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Transition Fund, a financial intermediary fund established by the US-based World Bank in 2012 that provides grants to help countries implement social reforms, has sponsored a total of USD 11 million in grants for two projects that will aim to assist approximately 5,000 Moroccan youths with starting their own businesses and micro-enterprises [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO, International Finance Corporation (IFC), KfW Entwicklungsbank Invest $5.4m in AccessBank Rwanda
The Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden NV (FMO), a Dutch development bank that aims to promote growth in the economies of developing countries; the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group that offers assistance to private companies with the goal of alleviating poverty in developing countries; and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Entwicklungsbank (KfW), a state-owned German development bank, have invested RWF 3.5 billion (USD 5.4 million) in AccessBank Rwanda (ABR), the eighth member of Access Microfinance Holding AG (AccessHolding), a German company that invests in microfinance institutions [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Depositors Withdraw Savings from Microfinance Firms in Kumasi, Ghana amid Lack of Safety Nets for Clients
High rates of deposit withdrawals reportedly are occurring in Ghanaian city of Kumasi, which allegedly is attributed to the lack of safety nets protecting depositors in case firms are shut down by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the country’s main financial regulator.