The Microenterprise Development Network, or MED-net, is an initiative by World Vision. A Christian relief and development organization, World Vision had $301 million in total assets at year end 2005, as reported in the 2005 Financial Statements. According to the MED-net portfolio, World Vision’s Microenterprise Development program had 390,047 active clients in 46 countries, with $134,344,795 in loans outstanding at year end 2005. In Uganda, this program provides both community and individual loans to over 15,000 clients.

Continue reading “Oikocredit grants $335,220 loan to the Microenterprise Development Network in Uganda”

Bellwether Microfinance Fund purchased shares valued at $274,000 from Arohan Microfinance Services. They also granted $164,400 in convertible debt, which carries the option of being converted to equity.

Continue reading “Bellwether India-focused Private Equity Microfinance Fund Makes Second Investment of US$274,000 in Arohan Microfinance Services”

Unitus Equity Fund (UEF) and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) are financing Ujjivan Financial Services Private Limited, a microfinance institution (MFI) offering microloans to India’s urban poor. With its investment of about $296,000, UEP will gain a 24% ownership stake in Ujjivan. MSDF will possess a 13.8% stake, and the Bellwether Microfinance Fund will continue its support of Ujjivan by taking a 12.6% stake.

Ujjivan reported net current assets of 11,359 thousand rupees ($249,000) as of March 31,2005 and a net loss of 830 thousand rupees ($18,200) for the last quarter. However, it does not report to the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse. The gaze of the microfinance sector in India is focused on rural India even though the population of urban poor is estimated to equal 106 million, 30% of the total urban population. Ujjivan believes the key difference between the urban and rural populations is lack of time and availability of space, not stability or community affinity, and is tailoring its products to serve the population of around 2 million urban poor in the city of Bangalore. Two driving reasons for borrowing by women in this segment, according to Ujjivan’s market research, are providing family housing and business working capital.

Continue reading “Unitus Equity Fund, Bellwether Microfinance Fund and the Dell Foundation Make Microfinance Investment in Indian Ujjivan Financial Services”

The Calvert Foundation has made a second significant investment in the recently founded MicroCredit Enterprises LLC. It had also invested $3 million at the end of last year (see microcapital blog).

According to the Calvert Foundation’s press release, the funding received by MicroCredit Enterprises was just one of its recent microfinance investments. Others include $250,000 to MI-BOSPO, which provides microloans for Bosnian women; $326,396 to OikoCredit, one of the largest financiers of the Microfinance industry; and $600,000 to the Latin America Challenge Investment Fund, SA (LACIF), which provides loans to Latin American MFIs.
Continue reading “Calvert Foundation Invests Another US$1 million in MicroCredit Enterprises LLC to Fund Microfinance Investing”

The Microfinance Bank of Azerbaijan (MFBA) is a full scale commercial bank and the leading microfinance provider in Azerbaijan. The bank has disbursed over 16,000 loans totaling over US$52 million. Its major shareholders include the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, The International Finance Corporation, KfW Development Bank, LFS Financial Systems GmbH, and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank. The Microfinance Bank of Azerbaijan does not report to the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX) and no further information on its performance is publicly available.

In its latest deal, MFBA received a US$4 million loan from Swiss group, Blue Orchard Microfinance SA. The loan was financed by Blue Orchard’s latest bond issue of US$120 million, funded by private commercial investors worldwide. In addition to MFBA, 21 other microfinance institutions will benefit from funding financed by the bond issue. This marks the first time that these institutions have had formal access to the European capital markets.

Additional Resources

1) Microfinance Bank of Azerbaijan
2) Blue Orchard Microfinance SA
3) The MIXMarket

FIS Empresa Social, an Argentinean microfinance institution, has closed on a US$200,000 direct debt facility with the Dignity Fund. The transaction was facilitated by Redmond, Washington-based Unitus, with assistance from Chatham Financial. FIS seeks to provide microcredit services on a broad, sustainable scale in Argentina. The two-year loan, made in the local currency of Argentinean Pesos, will be used to aggressively expand the institution’s client base from 3,000 to 55,000 by 2009. FIS does not report financial information to the MIXMarket.

The Dignity Fund is a limited partnership, private investment fund. The partnership seeks to increase access to financial services among the poor and provides debt financing to promising microfinance institutions. As of year-end 2005, the fund had allocated US$3,500,000 to microfinance investments.

Unitus is a non-profit microfinance investment fund with assets of US$7,100,000 as of August 2004. It provides both strategic consulting and funding for microfinance institutions using its “Acceleration Model.” Unitus brought Chatham Financial in to advise on the complexities of the transaction. The company is a leader in foreign exchange and interest rate transactions.

1) MIXMarket: UNITUS

2) MIXMarket: Dignity Fund
3) FIS Empresa Social
4) Unitus
5) Dignity Fund
6) Yahoo! Finance: “The Dignity Fund Provides $200,000 Debt Facility for Unitus Microfinance Institution Partner FIS,” April 26, 2006.

Dutch Bank, Triodos, has long sponsored socially-responsible investment funds with a particular tilt towards microfinance. The Hivos-Triodos Fund Foundation is a joint initiative between the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation and Triodos Bank. It uses special savings accounts to fund microfinance investments and fair trade producers. The fund had EUR 24 million in assets at the end of 2005.

Continue reading “Triodos Family of Funds Keeps Pace in First Quarter with New Investments in Prizma, Bandari Sacco, AMRET, and Acleda Bank Totaling Over US$5 Million”

MicroCapital reported on the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Citigroup’s joint investment in Uganda Microfinance Limited at the end of March. In addition to contributing to the growing trend of cooperation between microfinance institutions and commercial banks, the IFC funded two additional deals during the first quarter of 2006 totaling nearly US$17 million.
Continue reading “International Finance Corporation Continues Support of Microfinance with US$17 Million in New Investments in Fundación WWB Colombia and Morocco’s FONDEP Micro-Crédit”

responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund, the Swiss microfinance investment fund with US$50,241,143 in assets under management, recently undertook new debt investments in five separate microfinance institutions located around the world. responsAbility typically invests in microfinance institutions, though on occasion it branches out into small and medium enterprises and trade finance for small businesses in developing countries. The fund has increased its net asset value by 6.44% since its inception in 2003.
Continue reading “responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund Grows Book of Business with New Debt Investments in Partneri Shquiptar ne Mikrokredi, Mi-Bospo, Edpyme Proempresa, COAC Pablo Munoz, and MFW”

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C) have developed a credit scheme that will bolster the development of Uganda Microfinance Limited. The IFC has issued a $1,000,000 line of credit to Uganda Microfinance to strengthen its balance sheet. Uganda Microfinance will then be able to borrow local currency on commercial terms from the Citigroup subsidiary, Citibank Uganda Limited. The deal is further indication that major commercial banks are taking a growing interest in microfinance, both on wholesale and retail terms.
Continue reading “International Finance Corporation and Citigroup Extend Credit to Uganda Microfinance”

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) founder and Chief Executive Officer, Vinod Khosla, lead a group of investors today in committing US$2.5 million to SKS Microfinance of India. Founded in 1998, SKS Microfinance reported having a loan portfolio of US$7,604,876 and total assets of US$9,130,885 as of March 31, 2005. Since then, that portfolio has grown to over US$14 million. The bank’s 42 branches and 400+ employees serve women in India’s poorest regions, in particular, the drought plagued Deccan Region. Though it has yet to report a profit, SKS Microfinance has brought its return on equity up from -55.85% in 2000 to only -0.06% in the first quarter of 2005. With annual growth pegged consistently at around 250%, a positive return should be just around the corner.

Continue reading “Sun Microsystems founder, Vinod Khosla, Leads Charge in India’s Largest Microfinance Equity Investment to Date, Joining with Unitus and Others in Investing US$2.5 million in SKS Microfinance”

Unitus, a non-profit microfinance investment fund with assets of $7,100,000 as of August 2004, announced a partnership with FIS Empresa Social of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Through this agreement Unitus will provide FIS with $100,000 in grants and a $500,000 debt facility, as well as capacity-building consulting services. Unitus provides a variety of services to micro-lenders throughout the world. The firm currently has eight partners serving about 540,000 clients in India, Kenya, Mexico and Argentina.

Founded in 1999 as the microfinance arm of non-governmental organization (NGO) El Ceibal, FIS became an independent microfinance institution in 2005. FIS is now a for-profit institution which receives foreign and domestic equity investments. FIS has a current client base of 3,000 and, with this boost from Unitus, projects expansion of MFI services to more than 55,000 clients by 2009. No additional financial data on FIS is available at this time.

ProCredit Bank Romania, a development-oriented, full service bank focused on microlending, has announced plans to increase its share capital by å¥4 million by the end of March. The new capital will come from increased investments by parent network ProCredit Holdings, which will increase its stake in the local bank from 26% to 34%; and Commerzbank, which will increase its stake to 21%. Additionally, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide funding to maintain its current stake in the bank.
Continue reading “Major Shareholders ProCredit Holdings, Commerzbank, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Increase Equity Investment in Microfinance Institution, ProCredit Romania”

Last week, MicroCapital reported that the liquidating Colombian bank, Megabanco was put up for auction. The sale drew attention from major banks such as Spanish bank, Santander, GE Money, and Caribbean development fund, Fundesarollo. In the end, the auction went to Grupo Aval, a Colombian financial group. Grupo Aval made the winning bid of 808 billion pesos (US$358 million) through its subsidiary (and Colombia’s second largest bank), Banco de Bogotá.
Continue reading “Colombian Financial Group Banks on Microfinance Investment: Banco de Bogota Wins Auction for Megabanco and its Microcredit Portfolio with $358 Million Bid”

The CGAP-MIX capital markets update of the World Bank group is the only newsletter covering the microfinance capital markets.

If you have recently completed microfinance ratings, equity or debt deals, have hired a new microfinance team member or have other news or information that you would like to announce in the April issue, email capmarkets@cgap.org by Wednesday, March 29th.

1) CGAP-MIX Capital Markets Update
2) Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)
3) The MIXMarket

The microcredit portfolio of Megabanco has made it a hotly contested acquisition target for six large mainstream financial institutions. “Megabanco has a big base of small clients,” said Alexander Cardenas, head analyst at Bogota-based Acciones y Valores brokerage. “This makes it very attractive in the eyes of several banks that don’t cater to small savers and would be interested in capturing this type of client.”

Continue reading “Strong Microcredit Portfolio Makes Colombian Megabanco a Sought-After Acquisition Target”

Oikocredit, one of the larger microfinance investment funds with assets totaling US$304,662,000 at the end of 2004, recently completed sixteen new debt deals that touched various countries around the world. Based in the Netherlands, Oikocredit is a socially responsible investment fund that leverages a number of regional offices to channel loans to development projects in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe.
Continue reading “Microfinance Investment Fund, Oikocredit, Spans the Globe with Latest Round of Debt Financings.”

The Hivos Triodos Fund (HTF) åö part of the Triodos Bank family of microfinance funds- lent over $1.5 million in three deals. The Hivos-Triodos Fund (HTF), which was formed out of a joint initiative between the Humanist Institute of Development Cooperation (HIVOS) and Triodos Bank in 1994, had a 2004 year end portfolio totaling $23 million. Total assets were worth $22.5 million at the end of 2004, with $20.5 million allocated to microfinance investment.
Continue reading “Hivos Triodos Fund (HTF) Makes Microfinance Investment Worth Over $1.5 Million in Bosnian MI-BOSPO, Tanzanian Akiba Commercial Bank (ACB), and Peruvian Edpyme Proempresa”