ACCION Investments purchased shares in Mibanco and BancoSol
12/01/2005
ACCION Investments in Microfinance provides equity and quasi-equity financing to microfinance institutions in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Main sponsor of ACCION Investments is ACCION International which is one of the leading companies specialized in micro financing.
ACCION Investments in Microfinance provides equity and quasi-equity financing to microfinance institutions in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.
ACCION Investments’ capital is USD 19.5 million and its investors are international bilateral governmental entities as well as private investors. Finnfund is one of the investors too with a stake of USD 1.5 million. Main sponsor of ACCION Investments is ACCION International which is one of the leading companies specialized in micro financing.
ACCION Investments in Microfinance has announced two recent investments in leading Latin American microfinance institutions: Mibanco in Peru and BancoSol in Bolivia. In December 2004 ACCION Investments purchased 8.98 percent of the total shares of Mibanco and 21.83 per cent of shares of BancoSol as part of a consortium of investors purchasing a total of 47.22 percent of BancoSol’s shares.
“ACCION Investments relies upon its solid experience in the governance of microfinance institutions to help build upon the successes of already accomplished institutions like Mibanco and BancoSol within the increasingly competitive microfinance sector,” said María Otero, Chairperson of ACCION Investments’ Board of Directors.
“These equity investments and the participation of Mibanco in purchasing shares in BancoSol, create exciting new possibilities for cross-fertilization and cooperation between two of the world’s leading microfinance banks.”
To be selected for investment, Mibanco and BancoSol met stringent investment criteria relating to their operations, management and financial strength. ACCION Investments will play an active role in the corporate governance of these MFIs through representation on their boards of directors.
The investments in Mibanco and BancoSol, and existing holdings in Banco Solidario in Ecuador and Vision S.A. de Microfinanzas in Paraguay, bring ACCION Investments’ investment portfolio to USD 11.7 million.
For more information please contact Senior Investment Manager, Sari Nikka
tel. +358 9 3484 3304, email firstname.lastname@finnfund.fi
Source: ACCION International
