MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: responsAbility Investments Places 9% Equity in Russia’s Center-Invest for SMEs

Via two investment vehicles it manages, Switzerland’s responsAbility Investments AG recently purchased a total of 9 percent of the shares of Center-Invest Bank, a Russian bank serving individuals as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. According to Dr Vasily Vysokov, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Center-Invest, “…the new shareholder will expand access to financing sources for the growing global market for environmental and socially responsible investments, including energy efficiency projects, agribusiness development, loans for apartment building repairs, women and youth entrepreneurship.”

Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Rostov-on-Don, Center-Invest has 134 branches in the regions of Krasnodar Krai, Rostov, Stavropol Krai and Volgograd regions, as well as the cities of Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod. As of 2015, the bank had USD 1.55 billion in total assets, USD 1.13 billion in total deposits, USD 1.26 billion in net loans, return on average assets of 0.6 percent and return on average equity of 5.3 percent.

ResponsAbility, which was founded in 2003, has USD 3.2 billion in assets invested in 550 companies in 97 countries as of 2017. It has satellite offices in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Lima, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Nairobi, Oslo and Paris. The firm is primarily held by Swiss financial institutions, including Baumann & Cie, Raiffeisen Switzerland and Vontobel Beteiligungen.

By Ryan Gauthier, Research Associate