The Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Armenia (ACBA), a commercial and investment bank, and Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based impact investing firm, recently partnered to raise USD 6.75 million for onlending in Armenia. Symbiotics will list a sustainability bond on the Luxembourg Green Exchange, meeting the Green Bond Principles of the Switzerland-based International Capital Market Association, and use the proceeds to fund a four-year, unsecured loan to ACBA.
A portion of the funding is planned for financing micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises with the aim of boosting employment. These loans will be capped at USD 1 million, with a lower cap of USD 10,000 for microenterprises. The other portion of the funding is to finance equipment that increases energy efficiency and renewable energy – including in the transportation sector – as well as “agricultural loans focused on climate-smart farm inputs.”
Established in 1996, ACBA has 63 branches and approximately 1,500 employees in Armenia. Its products include savings and loans as well as foreign exchange services. Its loan offerings are designed for consumption and housing as well as farm and non-farm businesses. During 2020, ACBA Bank generated a profit of AMD 1.8 billion (USD 3.8 million) on total assets of AMD 405 billion (USD 852 million).
Founded in 2004, Symbiotics provides for-profit investment intermediary and business services to investors in and practitioners of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise development as well as lenders to low- and middle-income households. As of 2020, the company reported a direct investment portfolio of USD 2.3 billion invested in 80 countries.
By Adhya Singh, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Symbiotics press release
https://symbioticsgroup.com/news/press-release-symbiotics-launches-usd-6-75-million-sustainability-bond-in-armenia-with-acba-bank-ojsc/
ACBA homepage
https://www.acba.am/
ACBA annual reports
https://www.acba.am/en/reports
International Capital Market Association Green Bond Principles
https://www.icmagroup.org/sustainable-finance/the-principles-guidelines-and-handbooks/green-bond-principles-gbp/
Luxembourg Green Exchange webpage
https://www.bourse.lu/green
Symbiotics Social, Sustainability and Green bond framework
https://symbioticsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Sustainability-Social-and-Green-Bond-framework-for-Symbiotics.pdf
Symbiotics homepage
https://symbioticsgroup.com/
Symbiotics 2020 annual report
https://symbioticsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/AR2020_Symbiotics_Public-1.pdf
Previous MicroCapital article on Symbiotics
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-symbiotics-raises-4-6m-via-green-bond-for-samunnati-financial-for-sustainable-agriculture-in-india/
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