The Alliance for Microfinance in Myanmar, a Mandalay-based microfinance institution, recently received equity investments totaling USD 5 million from Base of Pyramid Asia (BOPA); the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries, which is also known by its Danish acronym IFU; the Insitor Impact Fund; and the Asia Impact Investment Fund (AIIF). The investment is intended to aid Alliance in expanding its “microfinancing and financial education…to reduce poverty in the less privileged communities” across Myanmar. With the exception of AIIF, each of the investors is increasing its existing stake in Alliance. Neither the breakdown of investments by each investor nor the sizes of the stakes taken have been made public.
BOPA is based in Singapore and holds investments in one microfinance institution each in Cambodia, East Timor, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Tajikistan and Vietnam. As of 2017, it reports assets of USD 6 million, and its investees have an aggregate loan portfolio of USD 63 million serving 147,000 people.
IFU, a government-owned fund, provides advisory services to Danish companies investing in developing countries and finances projects that are intended to enhance economic and social development in Africa, Europe and Latin America. As of 2016, it has total equity capital of DKK 2.98 billion (USD 477 million) and net income of DKK 218 million (USD 35 million).
The Insitor Impact Fund is based in Luxembourg and has a second office in Cambodia. Its mission is to increase access to “healthcare, education, affordable housing, water sanitation, and clean energy” for low-income families in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Financial data on the fund are not available.
AIIF is a project of Singapore-based United Overseas Bank (UOB) and Switzerland-based Credit Suisse that invests in companies supporting low-income people in China and Southeast Asia. As of 2016, UOB has total assets of USD 340 billion, and Credit Suisse has total assets of USD 382 billion as of 2017.
Alliance was founded in 2014 and has a loan portfolio of USD 10 million outstanding to 65,000 clients, 80 percent of whom are women and 50 percent of whom are from rural areas, as of 2017.
By Aleks Marceau, Research Associate
Sources and additional information:
Information provided directly to MicroCapital by BOPA
Alliance home page:
http://www.alliance-mm.com
BOPA home page:
https://www.bopa-microfinance.com
IFU home page:
https://www.ifu.dk
Insistor Impact Fund home page:
http://www.insitormanagement.com
MicroCapital on BOPA and IFU:
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-ifu-finnfund-danish-family-office-invest-8m-bopa-asian-microfinance/
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