MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Netherlands' FMO Syndicates $220m Loan for Togo-based Ecobank, with Participation from BlueOrchard Microfinance Fund, Symbiotics, Oikocredit, DEG, Proparco, OeEB, BIO

The Netherlands Development Finance Company, a government-backed institution also known by its Dutch acronym FMO, recently arranged a syndicated loan in the amount of USD 220 million for Togo-based Ecobank Transnational Incorporated to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 36 African countries. The term of the loan package will be between five and seven years. FMO provided roughly 25 percent of the loan amount, with USD 30 million funded by the Luxembourg-based BlueOrchard Microfinance Fund; USD 21.5 million by Switzerland-based Symbiotics and USD 10 million from Netherlands-based Oikocredit. The following government-backed institutions also participated: Germany’s Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft in the amount of EUR 21 million (USD 25 million), France’s Proparco in the amount of EUR 21 million (USD 25 million), Austria’s Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank in the amount of USD 15 million and the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries in the amount of USD 10 million.

FMO describes Ecobank as “a full-service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transaction banking services and products to governments, financial institutions, multinationals, international organisations, medium, small and micro businesses and individuals” [1]. Ecobank was launched in 1985 and employs 19,000 people in 1,200 branches in 36 countries as of 2017. The bank’s assets total USD 23.6 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 pre-tax profit 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/e8a51122-ac7c-4970-95af-c9e0b35ab52c/fmo-arranges-usd-200-million-syndicated-loan-facility-for-ecobank-transnational-incorporated

[2] Ecobank: https://www.ecobank.com/

[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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