The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based development finance institution, is reviewing a proposal to invest USD 25 million in Khan Bank, a Mongolian institution, to provide funding for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Mongolia. Khan Bank classifies 51 to 60 percent of its operations as microfinance. The EBRD board of directors will consider the proposal in July 2013.
Category: Investment Funds
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to Guarantee $664m to Vnesheconom Bank (VEB) for Financing Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs)
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a UK-based development finance institution, is reviewing a proposal to guarantee loans of EUR 500 million (USD 664 million) to be disbursed by Vnesheconombank (VEB), a development bank owned by the government of Russia, to provide funding for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) through partner banks.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Jamaica’s Ministry of Finance Delays Microfinance Institutions’ Exemptions from Money Lending Act, Blocking Wholesale Funding from Development Bank of Jamaica
Members of the Jamaica Micro Financing Association (JaMFA), a committee of eight microfinance institutions formed in 2008, reportedly have had their access to relatively cheap wholesale funds from the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), a state-owned bank, blocked due to delays in the Ministry of Finance in renewing their exemptions from the Money Lending Act, a law established in Jamaica in 1938 [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Loan $4m to Mikrokreditna Fondacija Mi-Bospo of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), a Luxembourg-based microfinance investment vehicle (MIV), recently notified MicroCapital that it has opened a EUR 1.5 million (USD 1.9 million) credit line for Mikrokreditna Fondacija Mi-Bospo, a microlender in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) that loans exclusively to women [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Considering $100m in Loans for National Bank of Egypt for Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises; Trade Finance
The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently revealed the pending approval of a finance facility of up to USD 100 million for the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), which is wholly owned by the Egyptian government.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Creation Investments Social Ventures Fund II Completes Closing with $75m, Disburses Equity Investments in Grupo Finclusion of Mexico; Sonata, Grameen Koota of India
Creation Investments Social Ventures Fund II, a US-based private equity fund managed by Creation Investments Capital Management, has completed final closing with USD 75 million in committed capital.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Caterpillar Foundation Donates $19m to Opportunity International to Reach 17m People in Africa, Asia and Latin America
Opportunity International, a US-based nonprofit organization that provides financial services to poor people in 24 countries, recently announced that Caterpillar Foundation, the philanthropic arm of US-based equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc., has granted Opportunity two multi-year donations totaling USD 19.2 million [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sanad Fund for MSME to Loan $2m to Al Majmoua of Lebanon for Microenterprises
The Sanad Fund for MSME (micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises), an initiative that invests in financial institutions in the Middle East and North Africa, recently agreed to grant a senior loan facility of USD 2 million to Al Majmoua, a Lebanese nongovernmental organization (NGO) that lends to microenterprises.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FINCA Becomes Majority Shareholder of Kashf Microfinance Bank of Pakistan with $8.4m Investment
Kashf Microfinance Bank Limited (KMBL), a Pakistan-based microfinance bank (MFB), recently announced an equity injection of PKR 824.7 million (USD 8.4 million) from FINCA Microfinance Coöperatief U.A., a Netherlands-based entity controlled by US-based NGO FINCA International.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Loans $70m to SB Sberbank of Kazakhstan to Support Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently announced that it would loan the local-currency equivalent of USD 70 million to Subsidiary Bank Sberbank of Russia Joint Stock Company (SBK) in Kazakhstan, a subsidiary of government-owned Sberbank of Russia, in an effort to increase financial access for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kazakhstan [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: International Finance Corporation (IFC), European Investment Bank (EIB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), European Commission Establish $380m Middle East, North Africa Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises Facility
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently announced that it is partnering with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term lending bank of the European Union (EU); Agence Française de Développement (AFD), France’s international development agency; and the European Commission, the legislative body of the EU, via the Neighborhood Investment Facility (NIF), to establish a USD 380 million financing facility for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Considering $78m Facility for Sekerbank of Turkey for Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises
The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently revealed the pending approval of a EUR 60 million (USD 78 million) finance facility for Sekerbank T.A.S., a Turkish commercial bank.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Loans $2.6m to Mobiasbanca – Groupe Société Générale of Moldova for Residential Energy Efficiency
In an effort to boost residential energy efficiency in Moldova, the UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently loaned EUR 2 million (USD 2.6 million) to Mobiasbanca, a Moldovan commercial bank and subsidiary of France-based Groupe Société Générale SA, to be on-lent to individual households, housing associations, management companies, condominiums and energy service companies.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) May Back $50m Foundations Fund 1.0 for Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises in Romania
The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) recently revealed its expected approval of an equity investment of up to EUR 15 million (USD 19.5 million) in The Foundations Fund 1.0, a Luxembourg-based corporate partnership fund, in an effort to foster capital equity investments in Romanian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that lead to multi-sector growth.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to Loan $10m to KazMicroFinance of Kazakhstan for Micro-, Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises in Rural Areas
The UK-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will loan the local-currency equivalent of USD 10 million to KazMicroFinance (KMF), a Kazakhstan non-banking financial institution, in an effort to increase access to credit for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas of the country [1].
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF) Disburses Tranches of $1.8m in Loans to African Microfinance Institutions GRAINE of Burkina Faso, CAURIE of Senegal
The Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation (GCAMF), a Luxembourg-based nonprofit that provides financial services to microfinance institutions (MFI), recently notified MicroCapital that it disbursed the second of three tranches of a loan totaling XOF 244 million (USD 487,600) to the MFI Groupe d’Accompagnement à l’Investissement et à l’Epargne (GRAINE), which serves 40,000 women in Burkina Faso, primarily in remote areas.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: MFTransparency Reveals Truth in Lending Tables Data Platform and Pricing Transparency Index
MicroFinance Transparency (MFTransparency), a US-based nongovernmental organization that provides information on microcredit products and their prices, recently revealed the Truth in Lending Tables (TILT) Data Platform that displays the interest rates and fees charged to 40 million microfinance clients of 429 institutions across 20 countries.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC to Loan $50m to BanBif of Peru to Support Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, recently announced that it would loan USD 50 million to Banco Interamericano de Finanzas (BanBif), a Peruvian commercial bank, in an effort to double the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) served by the bank by 2017.