This 
paper offers an analysis of the impact of the SME Finance Loans For Growth (LFG) fund from its launch in 2016 through 2020. LFG is a collaboration of three Swiss organizations, the Symbiotics Group, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and
Search Results for: symbiotics
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Issues $5m Sustainability Bond to Fund Microfinance Institution Crystal of Georgia
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based impact investing platform, recently issued a bond whose proceeds are funding a three-year, unsecured loan to Crystal, a microfinance institution (MFI) in Georgia. The proceeds of the bond, Georgian lari equivalent to USD 5 million, are earmarked to
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Impact Investor Symbiotics Spins Off Consultancy Tameo
Symbiotics Group, a Switzerland-based impact investing firm, recently launched an independent research firm Tameo, which aims to “promote the growth of the impact investing industry by increasing transparency and supporting evidence-based decision-making via independent solutions.” The new firm will provide investors and investment managers with: (1) impact measurement, labeling, reporting and verification services; (2) the publication of benchmarks, indexes and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Introduces $10m Bond to Fund Affordable Housing in Colombia via Hipotecaria Compañía de Financiamiento
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based impact investing platform, recently agreed to issue a 4.5-year, senior, unsecured loan of COP 35.8 billion (USD 10.5 million) to La Hipotecaria Compañía de Financiamiento (HCF), a Panama-based mortgage lender, from the proceeds of a social bond Symbiotics is launching for this purpose. The goal is to increase access to
MICROFINANCE PAPER WRAP-UP: “Private Asset Impact Fund Report 2020;” by Basile Quartier, Brendan Mackinnon, Ramkumar Narayanan; Published by Symbiotics
This survey reports on private asset impact funds (PAIFs), which are defined as those that have most “of their non-cash asset [base] allocated both to private debt and/or private equity instruments and to emerging and frontier markets, with a development impact bias.” When referring to impact, Symbiotics focuses on the
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Launches $6.7m Bond for Samunnati, Provider of Microfinance, Market Access, Technology to Agricultural Sector in India
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based investment company, recently launched a bond issue intended to raise INR 500 million (USD 6.75 million) for Samunnati Financial Intermediation & Services Private Limited, a for-profit non-banking financial company in India. The proceeds will flow
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Launches $10m Bond Issue for Abaco of Peru for Microlending, SME Finance
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based investment company, recently launched a “social” bond to raise USD 10.2 million to benefit Peruvian Cooperative de Ahorro y Crédito Abaco. The bond is part of the Sustainability, Social and Green Bond Framework of Symbiotics’ entity Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Bonds SA. The proceeds will flow to Abaco in the form of a 4-year, unsecured senior loan of PEN 36 million. Abaco plans to use the proceeds “to finance small and medium-sized enterprises within the trade, services and agriculture sectors, in particular the
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Raises $7.8m for Pan Asia Bank of Sri Lanka in Sale of “Green Bonds” to Investors Including SEB
Symbiotics, a Switzerland-based manager of international investments in small business, recently issued a four-year loan of LKR 1.42 billion (USD 7.75 million) to Sri Lanka’s Pan Asia Banking Corporation for on-lending to projects with reduced effects on the environment in sectors such as energy and agriculture. Symbiotics raised the money through an issue of “green” bonds. Of the bond buyers,
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Hayman Microfinance of Myanmar Borrows $14m from AGD Bank, BlueOrchard Finance, Maybank, Symbiotics
Hayman Capital (Microfinance) Company Limited, a licensed deposit-taking microfinance institution (MFI) in Myanmar, recently received loans totaling USD 13.75 million to support microlending in the Ayeyarwaddy, Bago, Magway, Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, Sagaing and Yangon regions. The MFI is a fully owned subsidiary of Hayman Capital Private Limited, a Singapore-based investment and financial holding group.
The first of Hayman Microfinance’s loans was a 3-year contract of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Ameriabank Borrows $11.5m from Symbiotics for On-lending to Microenterprises, SMEs in Armenia
Ameriabank, the primary member of Armenia’s Ameria Group, recently accepted a senior loan of USD 11.5 million from Switzerland-based Symbiotics. Ameriabank CEO Artak Hanesyan explained that the funding is “aimed at micro and SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] financing, which is a strategic priority for Ameriabank.” Symbiotics sourced the loan from
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 Incor
MICROFINANCE PUBLICATION ROUND-UP: 11th Symbiotics MIV Survey, Very Small Businesses in Ethiopia, Climate-shock Recovery Lending in Africa
“2017 Symbiotics MIV Survey,” published by the Symbiotics Group, September 2017, 55 pages, available at:
http://symbioticsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Symbiotics-2017-MIV-Survey.pdf
This 11th annual survey of microfinance investment vehicles (MIV) offers data from 93 microfinance funds managed by “44 specialized asset management companies located in 17 countries.” The responding firms’ funds comprise 94 percent of the estimated market size of USD 13.5 billion. The MIV’s assets allocated to microfinance total USD 9.6 billion, of which 73 percent is in fixed-income funds, 16 percent in mixed funds and
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Myanmar Finance International Borrows $2m from Maybank, Symbiotics for Microfinance
Myanmar Finance International Limited (MFIL), a microfinance institution owned by Myanmar Investments International Limited (MIIL), Myanmar Finance Company Limited (MFCL) and the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund), recently announced that it has secured a local-currency loan facility worth USD 1 million from Switzerland-based Symbiotics.
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Symbiotics Raises $18.5m for Georgia’s TBC Bank via MSME Bond Platform
Tbilisi Business Center (TBC) Bank, Georgia-based commercial bank, recently announced that it has raised GEL 45 million (USD 18.5 million) from one or more unidentified investors via the MSME bond platform of Symbiotics SA, a Swiss investment services provider focused on micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Fidelity Bank Ghana Borrows $54m for SME Lending from FMO, BIO, Symbiotics, Oikocredit, Incofin
Two government-backed entities, the Netherlands’ Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) and the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO), recently announced they are leading a senior loan package of USD 54 million to be onlent by Fidelity Bank Ghana to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The loan comprises USD 25 million from FMO
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: IFC Syndicates $44m in Debt from BIB, Incofin, MicroVest, Symbiotics for KazMicroFinance (KMF) of Kazakhstan
KazMicroFinance (KMF), a microfinance institution operating in Kazakhstan, recently borrowed USD 44 million syndicated by the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) in an effort to enable KMF to expand its lending to small businesses. Of the total, IFC is providing USD 5 million
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Colombia’s FM Bucaramanga, Ecuador’s Produbanco Borrow $12m for SMEs via Symbiotics’ Bond Platform
Switzerland-based Symbiotics SA, which specializes in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise investment, recently issued bonds for two South American financial institutions: COP 33 billion (USD 10 million) for Colombia’s Fundación Mundial de la Mujer Bucaramanga (FMMB) and USD 2.25 million for Produbanco of Ecuador. The latter was the second of
MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Armeconombank (AEB) Borrow $8.7m via Symbiotics’ Bond Platform to Benefit SMEs in Armenia
Switzerland-based Symbiotics SA, which specializes in micro-, small and medium-sized enterprise investment, recently issued bonds for two Armenian banks: USD 5 million for ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank and USD 3.7 million for Armeconombank (AEB). The latter was the second of two tranches this year totaling USD 10 million for AEB. All of these transactions were intermediated through