Asociación de Cooperativas Argentinas (ACA), a network of 143 agricultural cooperatives in Argentina, recently borrowed USD 80 million from three institutions, led by the Dutch development bank Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO). FMO is lending ACA half of the total, and the Canadian government’s FinDev Canada and the Dutch cooperative Rabobank are each providing USD 20 million. ACA plans to use the cash as working capital in support of its exports of grains and seeds that it buys from cooperatives that represent 50,000 farmers.
Founded in 1922 in the city of Rosario, ACA operates in 600 towns in 12 provinces as of 2023. The cooperative trades 21 million tons of cereals and oilseeds per year, with the goals of “provid[ing] comprehensive solutions to cooperatives and agricultural producers, creating value in a competitive and sustainable way, providing transparency to markets and keeping up the differential of cooperative principles and values.”
Established in 1970, FMO is 51-percent held by the Dutch government and 49-percent by private investors. The institution works toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals by funding capacity development and placing debt and equity investments in sectors such as agribusiness, financial institutions and energy. As of December 2021, FMO reported a committed portfolio of EUR 9.7 billion (USD 10.2 billion).
FinDev Canada, also known as Development Finance Institute Canada, was established in 2018 as a subsidiary of Export Development Canada, a government-owned export credit agency. The goal of FinDev Canada is to support job creation and the economic empowerment of women. The institution is active in the private sector in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as sub-Saharan Africa via direct loans, guarantees, structured financing and equity placements. In 2021, FinDev Canada signed new commitments valued at USD 285 million (CAD 394 million).
Rabobank has 9 million customers in the Netherlands. In 36 other countries, it has EUR 148 billion (USD 157 billion) in outstanding loans and leasing contracts, largely in the agricultural sector.
By Renata Samadova, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
FMO transaction data
https://www.fmo.nl/news-detail/939b53ac-fc5e-41cc-8c96-b32ca7fa2100/monthly-transaction-overview-february
ACA homepage
https://www.acacoop.com.ar
FinDev Canada homepage
https://www.findevcanada.ca
Rabobank homepage
https://www.rabobank.nl
FMO homepage
https://www.fmo.nl
Previous MicroCapital article on FMO
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-fmo-proparco-lend-125m-to-nmb-for-msme-agriculture-green-financing-in-tanzania/
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