MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Netherlands’ FMO Buys $50m Bond from Turkey’s Sekerbank to Support 4k Rural SMEs

The Netherlands Development Finance Company, a government-backed institution also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, recently agreed to fund a private bond placement by Turkey’s Sekerbank in the amount of TRY 192 million (USD 50 million). The funding is intended to be on-lent to 4,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural Turkey. The bond has a term of three years and “dual recourse on the bank and on its SME-loan portfolio.”

Sekerbank was founded in 1953 to support rural farmers and as of 2017 has 302 branches, the majority of which are in the region of Anatolia. The bank’s product line includes EKO Kredi, which homeowners and SMEs may use to fund energy efficiency projects. Sekerbank has total assets of TRY 29.5 billion (USD 7 billion) [2].

The vision of FMO is to help abolish extreme poverty, increase equality and support measures that reduce climate change. It reports total assets of EUR 8.5 billion (USD 9.5 billion) and profit before taxes of EUR 219 million (USD 245 million) for the year 2016 [3].

By Alex Gelfond, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

[1] FMO press release: https://www.fmo.nl/news-detail/2fb8166f-bd4b-4780-a0f6-ec4fb3198391/fmo-supports-sekerbanks-inclusive-activities-in-turkey

[2] Sekerbank: http://www.sekerbank.com/en

[3] MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: FMO, Triodos, Accion Invest Equity in Nicaraguan Microfinance Institution Financiera FAMA:
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-fmo-triodos-accion-invest-equity-nicaraguan-microfinance-institution-financiera-fama/

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