MicroCred, an investment company that creates companies and banks specialized in microfinance, approved a capital increase which includes investments from a new shareholder, Developing World Markets (DWM) and a founding shareholder, AXA Belgium. DWM will take a 22% stake in the company, while AXA Belgium will increase its shareholding to 25%. MicroCred’s total equity capital stood at USD 23.2 million at the end of November 2008. Continue Reading »

On November 18, the MasterCard Foundation, a private foundation in Toronto, Canada, and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), a Bangladeshi microfinance institution (MFI), targeted two million Ugandans with a USD 19.6 microfinance program.  The need for deeper, more mature microfinance markets in Uganda is strong, implies a recent Business Wire story.  The government made expanding financial services for the rural poor a “top priority” in a country where more than 37 percent of the population live on less than a dollar a day and 62 percent do not have access to financial services. Continue Reading »

Global Partnerships (GP), a Seattle-based non-profit organization that funds microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America, recently announced the creation of its Microfinance Fund 2008 (MFF 2008), a USD 20 million microfinance investment fund intended to aid the rural poor.  Seeking a return of four to five percent on a six-year note, MFF 2008 will fund investments in several MFIs and other partner organizations in Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru.  The fund is closed to additional investors. Continue Reading »

In late October, 35 microfinance institutions (MFIs) and investment funds signed the Client Protection Principles (CPP), a list of pro-consumer principles and mandates that aims to become an industry-wide standard for ensuring the fair treatment and financial protection of low-income microfinance clients.  The CPP are part of a larger campaign launched in September of 2008 at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, a conglomeration of governments and public and private organizations dedicated to sustainable development, with the goal of incorporating at least half of the world’s 500 largest MFIs within the next three years. According to Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), there is little evidence of client abuse in the microfinance sector.   Continue Reading »

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a USD 1 billion loan to the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), the country’s federal public bank for development. The 20 year loan will go towards financing long-term credit to microenterprises and small and medium-size businesses . It is the third loan of the same size by the IDB made from a USD 3 billion conditional credit line launched in 2004 for BNDES. Continue Reading »

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a United States federal agency, has announced a USD 350 million financing plan towards private equity investments in Latin America. The plan was approved by OPIC’s Board of Directors to finance three approved new funds in order to provide capital across several economic sectors, including microfinance. The private equity funds are the Greylock Latin America Opportunity Fund, the Latin Power and Infrastructure IV Fund, and the Altra Private Equity IV Fund (APEF). The investment will allow these funds to achieve a combined capitalization of USD 1.45 billion. Continue Reading »

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. Continue Reading »

Schwab Charitable Fund (Schwab), a national donor-advised fund based in San Francisco, has begun allowing donors to its Charitable Gift Accounts to apportion some their donations as microfinance loan guarantees in the hopes that this will magnify Schwab’s charitable impact among low-income entrepreneurs.  Schwab expects the multi-phase program to increase the number of microfinance loans available at lower costs in more than 25 developing countries.  In the near future, the program should provide USD 20 to 30 million in guarantees to over USD 100,000 micro-loans.  Continue Reading »

Source: Microfinance Information Exchange, Inc.
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Merrill Lynch Community Development Company (MLCDC), a for-profit development-focused subsidiary of Merrill Lynch & Company, Inc., has invested USD 10 million in Calvert Community Investment (CCI) notes, which are fixed income products issued by the Calvert Social Investment Foundation, a development non-profit located in Besthesda, MD.  The MLCDC investment will finance about twenty microfinance institutions (MFIs) that are expected to provide micro-credit over 25,000 female entrepreneurs in developing nations.  The initiative was announced at the recent 2008 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) summit, an annual gathering of global leaders in government, business and civil society for the purpose of discussing pressing development challenges and their solutions. Continue Reading »

On September 26, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR), a Vermont-based coffee company, pledged a grant of USD 450,000 over five years to Root Capital, a non-profit social investment fund focused on grassroots businesses in the developing world.  This is the single largest grant in Green Mountain’s history.  The announcement was made at the 2008 summit of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an annual meeting of world leaders aiming to address global development challenges.  Continue Reading »

In August, the Philippine government dispersed PHP 169.7 million (USD 3.7 million) in loans to five microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the Caraga region of Mindanao in accordance with the Rural Micro Enterprise Promotion Program (RuMEPP).  The Small Business Corporation (SBC), a government finance agency, funneled the loan to the Rural Green Bank of Caraga, the Enterprise Bank, the People’s Bank of Caraga, the Talacogon Agro-Industrial Multi-Purpose Development Cooperative (TAMDECO), and the Rural Bank of Placer, which in turn redistributed the funds as loans to thousands of micro-entrepreneurs in Caraga. Continue Reading »

On September 18, AIG Investments (AIG), the asset management division of American International Group Inc., announced that its Global Emerging Markets Fund II LP will invest equity in the Blue Intercontinental Micro Finance Bank (BIMFB), a microfinance institution (MFI) that promotes financial services and products within Nigerian retail markets. The exact terms of the investment were not disclosed. Continue Reading »

A Little World, a technology company based in Mumbia, India, recently finished a round of funding which brought in INR 287m (USD 6.3m). The investors included the Bellwether Microfinance Fund, the India Financial Inclusion Fund and Legatum Ventures. The investments, which were facilitated by Intellecap, are intended to help build ALW’s product portfolio. ALW focuses on using banking technologies to provide low cost financial services to those at the bottom of the economic period. Continue Reading »

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. Continue Reading »

The Caracas, Venezuela based Corporacion Andina de Fomento (CAF) has granted loans worth USD 29.2 million to support the financial reinforcement of six Bolivian microfinance institutions. CAF president and CEO Enrique Garcia said the loans were approved for “institutional and business strengthening, promotion of a positive business climate, generation of employment and efficient response to demand for basic services for the population.”  The largest portion USD 10 million went to Banco Los Andes ProCredit, followed by USD 6.5 million to Banco Bisa, USD 5 million to each Banco Solidario and Banco Economico, and lastly the non banking financial institutions Crecer, USD 2 million and Fondo Privado Ecofuturo, USD 700,000. Continue Reading »

According to the Responsible Investor, an online magazine, SNS Asset Management is currently fundraising for a EUR 100m successor to the SNS Institutional Microfinance Fund. The new fund, which will be run by Developing World Markets (DWM), was created because of the overwhelming demand among Dutch institutional investors for the first iteration. Continue Reading »

The Legatum Group, founded in 2006 from the de-merger of Sovereign Global, is a collection of investment organizations based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The separate companies comprising Legatum include Legatum Capital, a global investment firm; Legatum Global Development, a socially-responsible investment firm that also provides grants and policy advocacy services to promote sustainable development; the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT; and the Legatum Institute, which is an independent policy advisory firm. Continue Reading »