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). The USD 1 million in bonds follows shortly after the first tranche, which was issued during October 2015.

As of December 2014, Prasac reported total assets of USD 701 million and a gross loan portfolio of USD 580 million outstanding to 251,000 borrowers. As of the same date, Prasac reported return on assets (ROA) of 5.3 percent and return on equity (ROE) of 44.3 percent and 370,000 depositors with deposits amounting to USD 305 million. As of December 2015, Symbiotics managed seven microfinance and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) impact funds with USD 450 million in assets. As of the same date, the organization had facilitated the provision of USD 2.4 in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) investments via 2,000 deals through its work with 28 funds and other investors and 250 financial institutions in 50 emerging economies.

By Kevin van den Brink, Research Associate

About Symbiotics Group

Founded in 2004, Switzerland-based Symbiotics provides for-profit investment intermediary and business services to investors and practitioners of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) development. Its work is divided its Financial Institutions, Asset Management and Investor Relations teams. As of 2015, its Financial Institutions team had facilitated the provision of USD 2.4 billion in MSME investments via 2,000 deals through its work with 28 funds and other investors and 250 financial institutions in 50 emerging economies; its Asset Management team managed seven microfinance and SME impact funds with USD 450 million in assets; and its Investor Relations team coordinated a dozen impact investing funds and strategies and raised assets of USD 350 million. The company also offers Syminvest, a microfinance investment information platform designed to increase transparency and enhance investment capacity in the industry by monitoring regional markets as well as individual institutions.

About Prasac

Prasac was originally founded as a credit component of an agriculture support program in Cambodia that was funded by the European Union and implemented by the Royal Government of Cambodia. It was registered in 2004 with the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce as a private limited liability company and is licensed by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) to offer financial services including the acceptance of deposits. As of December 2014, Prasac reported total assets of USD 701 million and a gross loan portfolio of USD 580 million outstanding to 251,000 borrowers. As of the same date, Prasac reported return on assets (ROA) of 5.3 percent, return on equity (ROE) of 44.3 percent and 370,000 depositors with deposits amounting to USD 305 million. As of 2015, 85 percent of Prasac’s borrowers are women.

Sources and Additional Resources

[1] Information provided to MicroCapital by Symbiotics

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Symbiotics Group

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Prasac

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