MICROCAPITAL STORY: Eastern Europe Microfinance Institution LOKMicro Receives Over $6m in Loans from responsAbility Mikrofinanz-Fonds, responsAbility Microfinance Leaders Fund and VDK MFI Loan Portfolio

The Microfinance Capital Markets Newsletter of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the MIX, the microfinance information clearinghouse, reported LOKMicro, a Eastern Europe microfinance institution (MFI), received a loan of USD 1.4 million from responsAbility Mikrofinanz-Fonds, a loan of USD 2.0 million from responsAbility Microfinance Leaders Fund and a loan of USD 2.8 million from the VDK MFI Loan Portfolio.

LOKMicro, a Bosnia-based MFI, was founded in 1997 to provide financial support to disadvantaged individuals and to help them improve their and standard of life through microentrepreneurship. As of March 2007, LOKMicro serviced 13,880 active borrowers with loans of approximately equivalent USD 2,400 in size. LOKMicro’s second quarter “financial data” on the MIX, indicates had total assets of equivalent USD 36.8 million, consisting of a gross loan portfolio of equivalent USD 33.5 million. As of December 2006, return on assets was reported at 3.84 percent with a return on equity of 22.36 percent.

Microfinanz-Fonds and the responsAbility Microfinance Leaders Fund are managed by responsAbility Social Investment Services Ltd., a Swiss investment firm founded in 2003 that specializes in microfinance investments. The VDK MFI Loan Portfolio is a private Belgian investment fund established in 2007 to “build a well-structured portfolio of microfinance investments.” The responsAbility Global Microfinance Fund, another responsAbility managed fund, also issued a loan of USD 1.7 million to LOKMicro in September 2007.

Additional Resources:

CGAP: “List of Recent Transactions”

MIX Market: “Profile for LOKMicro”

MIX Market: “Profile for VDK MFI Loan Portfolio”

MIX Market: “Profile for responsAbility Microfinance Leaders Fund”

MicroCapital.org article, October 18, 2007: “MICROCAPITAL STORY: Swiss responsAbility Microfinanz-Fonds Loans over $953k to Latin America Microfinance Institutions Fundación CAMPO and COOPROGRESO“

MicroCapital.org article, September 25, 2007: “MICROCAPITAL STORY: ResponsAbility Global Microfinance Fund of Switzerland Lends over USD 2.1 Million to Fondesurco, Fundación ESPOIR and LOKMicro”

MicroCapital.org article, August 29, 2007: “MICROCAPITAL STORY: Swiss ResponsAbility Microfinanz-Fonds Begins Microfinance Investing and Loans USD 500,000 and USD 344,456 Respectively to PRESTANIC in Latin America and Al Karama in Middle East”

MicroCapital.org article, April 2, 2007: “Peruvian Microfinance Institution Edpyme Proempre Receives USD 500,000 in loans from VDK MFI Loan Portfolio”