Symbiotics, the leading market access platform for impact investing, has arranged a USD 6.5 million Social Bond for Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Fernando Daquilema (“Daquilema”).
With the issuance of this Social Bond, Daquilema reinforces its commitment to serve indigenous communities providing credit to support micro enterprises, entrepreneurship and thus foster employment creation. It also showcases its ability to align to the internationally accepted International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Social Bond Principles, increasing the attraction of international financiers.
The social projects that will be financed are represented by micro loans up to USD 10,000 to microenterprises and SME loans up to USD 1 million to small and medium enterprises, generating employment and improving the general funding available to this market.
“With the issuance of this social bond, Symbiotics will contribute to the socio economic development of indigenous populations and we are excited to continue supporting Ecuadorian low-income communities and businesses in the recovery phase of the pandemic.”, said Symbiotics Head of Markets Vincent Lehner.
“The financial resources obtained through Symbiotics will allow us to strengthen and reach more people from our social base. The funds will be allocated to micro-entrepreneurs, including merchants, artisans, and farmers, under the principle of sustainability. This will strengthen and reactivate their businesses, reducing poverty by generating sources of employment and income.”, stated Pedro Khipo, CEO of Daquilema.
“The issuance of social bonds for our client: Daquilema, constitutes an icon for our society. We are very happy and proud to have achieved this goal in a teamwork with the cooperative and, above all, in the hands of a great platform, like Symbiotics. This placement goes beyond a way of supporting community development, as Daquilema has become the first Ecuadorian intercultural cooperative to issue social bonds, which will surely be the ball point for the rest of the cooperatives in Ecuador.”, added Andrea Mosquera, CEO of GreenCapital Partners.
The following SDGs are promoted with this Social Bond issuance:
This Social Bond is issued via Symbiotics sponsored bond issuance platform (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Bonds S.A.) under its Sustainable Bond Framework, which was certified in December 2019 and November 2021 by DNV GL. The bond is listed on the Securities Official List of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and displayed on the Luxembourg Green Exchange, in the Social Bond section. The proceeds are to be fully used towards a 3-year tenor, senior unsecured loan facility to Daquilema.
Link to: Sustainable Bond Framework for Symbiotics
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About Symbiotics
Symbiotics is the leading market access platform for impact investing, dedicated to financing micro- small and medium enterprises and low- and middle-income households in emerging and frontier markets. Since 2005, Symbiotics has structured and originated some 5,000 deals for over 490 companies in almost 90 emerging and frontier markets representing more than USD 7.5 billion. These investments have been purchased by more than 25 fund mandates and more than 50 third party specialized fund managers, forming a growing ecosystem and marketplace for such transactions. symbioticsgroup.com
About Daquilema
The Cooperative, founded by a group of indigenous leaders from various communities of the Puruwa Cacha people, today serves more than 132 thousand Ecuadorian families, inaugurating the first agency in the city of Riobamba, until reaching 19 agencies in 11 provinces of Ecuador by 2021, which places Daquilema within the 16 largest cooperatives in Ecuador, with a risk rating of A -, by virtue of which it has received several recognitions at national and international level. Daquilema has developed a wide range of credit products, having a total portfolio of USD 244 million, of which 86% are microentrepreneurs. Moreover, it has launched savings products promoting financial inclusion and channels the Bono de Desarrollo Humano (Human Development Bond in Spanish), the country’s main transfer program. All the products have been promoted through various service channels. coopdaquilema.com
About GreenCapital Partners
GreenCapital Partners is a financial advisory firm specialized in raising impact financing, who acted as debt structuring agent for Daquilema with Symbiotics. It has a presence in Latin America and the Caribbean and focuses on the management of strategic financial solutions at all levels, with a prestigious group of high-performance professionals throughout the region. greencapital-partners.com
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For more information, contact:
Samy Derradji, Corporate Communication Manager, Symbiotics
samy.derradji@symbioticsgroup.com
Julio Vaquilema, Management Committee, Daquilema
juliovaquilema@coopdaquilema.com
Andrea Mosquera, CEO, GreenCapital Partners
amosquera@greencapital-partners.com
