Symbiotics Investments recently issued a loan of USD 7.5 million to Tunisie Leasing and Factoring (TLF) “to further expand its renewable energy and energy-efficient machinery and equipment offerings” for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Tunisia. Symbiotics sourced the funding from its Green Basket Bond, which was launched in 2022 with USD 75 million from British International Investment (BII), an instrument of the government of the UK.
TLF CEO Hichem Zhgal reacted to the deal by saying, “We are pleased to partner with Symbiotics Investments to sustain the development of small and medium Tunisian enterprises and provide further funding to improve energy efficiency, use renewable energy resources and develop sustainable energy policies.”
Since 1984, TLF has sought “to provide responsible financial services to SMEs operating in various economic segments.” Via 13 branch locations, it provides services including leasing vehicles, real estate, and medical and construction equipment as well as factoring for domestic and international trade. TLF reports a balance sheet of TND 989 million (USD 320 million) as of June 2022, with return on equity of 4.3 percent and return on assets of 0.75 percent over the preceding 6 months.
Established in 1948 and formerly known as the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) Group, BII issues debt, equity and indirect investments with the aim of fostering growth in businesses expected to raise living standards in a sustainable manner in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. The institution reports total assets of GBP 7.5 billion (USD 9.0 billion) as of 2023. During 2022, BII disbursed investments totaling GBP 1.9 billion (USD 2.3 billion).
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 lower income households in lower income countries. Since its inception, Symbiotics has facilitated 7,300 investments, and the organization reports assets of USD 2.9 billion as of 2023.
By Anaya Jhaveri, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Symbiotics press release on TLF investment
https://symbioticsgroup.com/symbiotics-investments-issued-a-usd-7-5-million-green-loan-to-tunisie-leasing-and-factoring/
Symbiotics press release on Green Basket Bond
https://symbioticsgroup.com/bii-and-symbiotics-partner-to-launch-first-ever-green-basket-bond-across-africa-south-and-southeast-asia/
TLF homepage
https://www.tlf.com.tn
BII homepage
https://www.bii.co.uk
Symbiotics homepage
https://symbioticsgroup.com
Previous MicroCapital article on Symbiotics
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-agricover-credit-raises-9m-for-agricultural-smes-in-romania-via-symbiotics-bond-issue/
Previous MicroCapital article on BII
https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-zanaco-borrows-50m-from-bii-to-support-msmes-climate-change-mitigation-in-zambia/
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