MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sun King Nets $10m from Proparco for Solar Products in Africa via Bond Issue Arranged by Symbiotics

Symbiotics Investments, a Switzerland-based investor focused on smaller businesses in low- and middle- income countries, recently arranged a bond issue channeling USD 10 million from the French development finance institution Promotion et Participation pour la Coopération Économique (Proparco) to Sun King, a US-based firm selling solar products in Arica and Asia. Formerly known as GreenLight Planet, Sun King was founded in 2009. Its products include five types of solar lights, four types of home solar electrification kits and an inverter to connect homes to electrical grids. The firm has served 60 million people in 65 countries, including 2.7 million people via a pay-as-you-go model that allows users’ devices to be turned on remotely as they have funds available to pay for access.

Proparco is a member of the AFD Group, whose other member is the French government’s Agence Française de Développement (AFD). The organization funds financial institutions and other businesses in Africa, Asia and Latin America to promote sectors such as agribusiness, education and renewable energy. During 2021, Proparco approved EUR 2.3 billion (USD 2.4 billion) in new disbursements.

Founded in 2004, Symbiotics provides for-profit investment intermediary and business services to investors in and practitioners of micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise development as well as lenders to low- and middle-income households in low- and middle-income countries. As of December 2021, Symbiotics reports USD 2.9 billion in assets under management.

Sources and Additional Resources

Symbiotics press release
https://symbioticsgroup.com/symbiotics-investments-arranged-a-usd-10-million-green-bond-for-proparco/

Sun King homepage
https://sunking.com

Proparco homepage
https://www.proparco.fr

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