OPIC $25 million loan to ProCredit to boost SME lending

Microfinance Focus, Nov. 30, 2009 : The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) recently approved a $25 million loan ProCredit Holding (PCH) to boost lending to expand lending to micro and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The OPIC loan will provide PCH, the parent company for 22 financial subsidiaries worldwide which provide finance for micro and small businesses in developing countries, with capital in order to expand their lending. OPIC has partnered extensively with ProCredit institutions during the last several years, including loans to ProCredit institutions in Ukraine and Moldova.

PCH was founded in 1998 by Internationale Project Consult GmbH, a German consulting company, as an investment company for investing in the network of ProCredit banks. As of the end of 2008, the Group had 814 branches and over 21,000 employees worldwide.

U.S. sponsors of PCH include TIAA-CREF, a national financial services organization and the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields; and the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund, which invests in the financial services sector in emerging markets, seeking to demonstrate the viability of commercial investment in microfinance to institutional investors.

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