The International Finance Corporation (IFC) recently made a USD 15.6 million equity investment in financial conglomerate Grupo Mundial Tenedora S.A. IFC now has a 9.9 percent stake in the group. The agreement has been approved by the IFC and is currently “pending signing”.
The IFC has directed USD 15 million to purchase common shares in Grupo Mundial while USD 600,000 will be invested directly as equity in private financial services business Soluciones de Microfinanzas, S.A. (Microserfin), which is a subsidiary of Mundial focused specifically on microcredit.
The IFC plans to help Grupo Mundial with institutional building and regional knowledge and hopes that the investment will increase Grupo Mundial’s competitiveness in microfinance and microinsurance. The project is seen as a “supplementary contribution” to a USD 70 million investment IFC made to Grupo Mundial in 2007. MicroCapital reported on the original project here. After that investment, IFC had a 7 percent stake in Grupo Mundial as of September 2007. The IFC’s total previous investments in Grupo Mundial sum USD 95 million and have been directed toward housing finance and acquisitions, specifically of Central American insurance companies and Colombian remittance firm Giros y Finanzas.
Its first operating firm launched in 1968, Panamanian Grupo Mundial is a financial conglomerate that provides insurance and banking services. Over the past year it has expanded operations to Guatemala, Colombia, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Since 2005, the group has been listed on the Panamanian Stock Exchange, and its largest shareholder, at 18.7 percent, is Guardian Americas Limited (GAL).
The Group’s main subsidiaries are Panama’s Aseguradora Mundial S.A. an insurance company, and Banco Panameño de la Vivienda S.A. (Banvivienda) a bank specializing in mortgage. As of December 2007, Grupo Mundial had total assets of the equivalent of USD 1.1 billion.
Non-bank financial institution, Soluciones de Microfinanzas, S.A. (Microserfin), was established in 1998 to provide micro and small entrepreneur’s with financial services. According to its MIX Market Profile, it provides loans, insurance and fund transfer services. As of December 31st 2007 it had 6,541 active borrowers and total assets of USD 7.1 million. Its debt-equity ratio was 105.70 percent and its return on assets was 1.05 percent.
By Sarah Knapp, Research Assistant
IFC: Press Release, Project Proposal
MicroCapital: IFC Makes $70m Investment in Central American Microfinance Operator Grupo Mundial
Soluciones de Microfinanzas, S.A. (Microserfin): MIX Market Profile
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