MICROCAPITAL STORY: Swiss responsAbility Microfinanz-Fonds Loans over $1.3m to Eastern Europe Microfinance Institution MIKROFIN

The Microfinance Capital Markets Newsletter of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the MIX, the microfinance information clearinghouse, reported responsAbility Microfinanz-Fonds, a Luxembourg-based fund, has issued a loan of USD 1.36 million to MIKROFIN, an Eastern Europe microfinance institution (MFI).

The Microfinanz-Fonds fund is managed by responsAbility Social Investment Services Ltd., a Swiss investment firm founded in 2003 that specializes in microfinance investments. The fund’s portfolio is financed by its shareholders, Bank im Bistum Essen, a German cooperative financial institution, and Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf, a German bank. At its creation in August 2007, the Microfinanz-Fonds fund had total capital of USD 27 million. More current financial data was not available.

MIKROFIN, based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was founded in 1997 as a non-bank financial institution. According to its most recent “financial data” on the MIX, the MFI had total assets of equivalent USD 94.9 million which consisted of a gross loan portfolio of equivalent USD 89.1 million. The MFI’s 2006 year end financial statement indicated return on assets of 4.80% and a return on equity of 17.45%. As of March 2007, the MFI serviced 40,806 active borrowers of which approximately 34.30% are women. The average loan balance for each borrower is equivalent USD 2,186. The MFI provides financial services to low-income entrepreneurs in hopes of helping them achieve economic independence.

Other funds that have invested in MIKROFIN include the Triodos Fair Share Fund and the Triodos-Doen Foundation. Oikocredit, a Dutch co-operative financial development institution, loaned MIKROFIN USD 2.85 million in 2006. Also in 2006, MIKROFIN received a convertible USD 10.2 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Additional Resources:

CGAP: “List of Microfinance Investment Vehicles created in 2007 & 2006”

CGAP: “List of Recent Transactions”

MIX Market: “Profile for MIKROFIN”

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, 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, November 4, 2006: “Bosnian Microfinance Institution Mikronfin Receives USD 2.85 Million Loan from Dutch Oikocredit”

MicroCapital.org article, September 19, 2006: “Triodos-Doen Foundation and Triodos Fair Share Fund Invest Over $3 Million: Loans to XacBank of Mongolia, Mikrofin of Bosnia & Herzegovina, and MicroInvest of Moldova”

MicroCapital.org article, September 13, 2006: “The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Lends $10.2 Million to Expand MIKROFIN’s Microcredit Activities”

MicroCapital.org article, December 5, 2005: “Dutch Triodos Family of Funds (Triodos-Doen, Triodos Private Fair Share, Hivos-Triodos) Makes Microfinance Investments Worth Over $6.7 Million in Loans to Seven Microcredit Institutions Worldwide”

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