This story comes to us courtesy of the MIX-CGAP March 2007 newsletter. The Venezuela-based multilateral financial institution Andean Development Cooperation (CAF) purchased USD 1.7 mn in shares from two Latin American microfinance institutions (MFIs) and took a 9 percent stake in another. USD 1.5 mn of CAF’s investment went towards the purchase of shares from LOCFUND, a local currency fund for Latin America and the Caribbean based in Bolivia funded by various investors to serve micro and small enterprises via microfinance institutions. It does not report to the MIX market, the microfinance information clearinghouse, nor does it make its fund financial data available to the public. CAF purchased USD 200,000 worth of shares from MICROFIN Uruguay, a commercial MFI that also does not report to MIX market or make its financial data publicly available. CAF also took a 9 percent stake in MicroCred Mexico, a subsidiary of the microfinance network MicroCred Holdings, a subsidiary of the French organization, PlaNet Finance which was established in 2005 to create commercial microfinance opportunities. While neither MicroCred Mexico nor MicroCred Holdings make any of its financial data available to the non share-holding public, Microcapital.org recently reported MicroCred Holding’s USD 787,740 investment in MicroCred Mexico.

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