VERDANT - CAPITAL HYBRID FUND (EIB-20180116)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • European Investment Bank (EIB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
FI
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Verdant Capital
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 20.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 100.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EIB website

Updated in EWS Mar 11, 2023

Disclosed by Bank Mar 16, 2021

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the EIB, the project consists in an equity investment in a USD 80m fund promoting financial inclusion in Africa through hybrid capital investments in financial institutions in Africa.

The project has the ultimate objective to promote financial inclusion in Africa, thus supporting employment and the economic development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
The fund will provide a range of hybrid capital instruments (i.e. subordinated debt, holding company loans, additional Tier 1 capital, etc.) to inclusive financial institutions comprising Monetary Financial Institutions (MFIs), banks, leasing companies, housing finance institutions etc. Such investments will provide essential capital to financial intermediaries that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and have a crucial role in the economic development of the continent. Hybrid capital products are rarely available in the target market but have high crowding-in potential as they allow the investees to attract additional senior debt and leverage the financing to reach more clients.
The fund will promote high standards of service delivery and require the investees to adhere to best practice in terms of client protection principles and social responsibility.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated on the company's website, Verdant Capital is a leading investment bank and investment manager operating on a Pan-African basis and specialising in private capital markets. It boasts offices in Johannesburg, Ebene, Accra, Harare, Kinshasa and Frankfurt.
Verdant Capital is authorised by the Financial Services Conduct Authority in South Africa (FSP44608), licenced by the Financial Services Commission in Mauritius. The firm is a BaFin-registered AIFM.
Verdant Capital has completed or is currently executing transactions in more than 25 African countries.
Verdant Capital is the manager of the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund, a fund investing hybrid capital into inclusive financial institutions on a pan-African basis.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No project contacts available at the time of disclosure.

Financial Intermediary - Verdant Capital:

Edmund Higenbottam - Contact person
Email: edmund.higenbottam@verdant-cap.com
Phone: +27 10 140 3700
Address: 3rd Floor, Tower A, 1 Cybercity, Ebene 72201, Republic of Mauritius
Website: https://verdant-cap.com/

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.eib.org/en/infocentre/registers/request-form/request-form-default.htm

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EIB

The EIB Complaints Mechanism is designed to facilitate and handle complaints against the EIB by individuals, organizations or corporations affected by EIB activities. When exercising the right to lodge a complaint against the EIB, any member of the public has access to a two-tier procedure, one internal - the Complaints Mechanism Office - and one external - the European Ombudsman. A complaint can be lodged via a written communication addressed to the Secretary General of the EIB, via email to the dedicated email address: complaints@eib.org, by completing the online complaint form available at the following address: http://www.eib.org/complaints/form via fax or delivered directly to the EIB Complaints Mechanism Division, any EIB local representation office or any EIB staff. For further details, check: http://www.eib.org/attachments/strategies/complaints_mechanism_policy_en.pdf

When dissatisfied with a complaint to the EIB Complaints Mechanism, citizens can then turn towards the European Ombudsman. A memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the EIB and the European Ombudsman establishes that citizens (even outside of the EU if the Ombudsman finds their complaint justified) can turn towards the Ombudsman on issues related to 'maladministration' by the EIB. Note that before going to the Ombudsman, an attempt must be made to resolve the case by contacting the EIB. In addition, the complaint must be made within two years of the date when the facts on which your complaint is based became known to you. You can write to the Ombudsman in any of the languages of the European Union. Additional details, including filing requirements and complaint forms, are available at: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/atyourservice/interactiveguide.faces

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How it works