IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund) will streamline their collaboration to provide much-needed financing to private companies in emerging markets and help boost growth and jobs.
Finnfund is the 23rd development finance institution to sign IFC's Master Cooperation Agreement (MCA), which standardizes steps that lenders take when co-financing projects with IFC. This streamlined approach saves time and money for lenders and borrowers. Since the MCA was established in 2009, signatories have co-invested more than $3 billion in loans with IFC to support private sector development.
“We foresee more collaboration with IFC and other development financiers in areas such as renewable energy. Simplified steps for this collaboration save costs and bring benefits to our clients,” said Jaakko Kangasniemi, CEO of Finnfund.
Dimitris Tsitsiragos, IFC Vice President, said: “IFC and Finnfund play a catalytic role in private sector development by providing long-term risk capital in challenging markets. Through the MCA we will be able to more swiftly respond to private sector financing needs when commercial financing is hard to obtain, supporting private sector development and job creation where it is needed most.”
IFC works closely with Finland to provide financing and advice to promote private sector development in emerging markets. Most recently, IFC and Finnfund co-invested in three solar projects to support renewable energy development in the Middle East. IFC and Finnfund also jointly invested in power companies in Bangladesh and Kenya to increase access to electricity in these countries.
IFC created the MCA in response to calls by the Group of 20 for official finance institutions to collaborate more closely to help meet shortfalls in private sector financing during the global financial crisis. For a list of MCA signatories, visit http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/ifc+syndications/overview_benefits_structure/syndications/parallel+loans
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IFC, Finland Strengthen Collaboration For Private Sector Development In Emerging Markets
Date 13/10/2014