CompareAsia (IFC-38728)

Regions
  • East Asia and Pacific
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • China
  • Indonesia
  • Malaysia
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Taiwan
  • Thailand
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
C
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."
Voting Date
Jan 17, 2017
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
COMPAREASIAGROUP CAPITAL LIMITED
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Equity
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 15.00 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)
$ 25.00 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 @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Feb 11, 2020

Disclosed by Bank Nov 11, 2016

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

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 IFC website, CompareAsiaGroup, founded in July 2013, aims to become the market leader of financial product comparison platforms for Southeast Asia with operations in 7 markets (Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia). IFC is considering an equity investment in CompareAsiaGroup, which will be used to finance the Company’s continued expansion in the region. 

Further, CompareAsiaGroup leverages technology to increase transparency of pricing for financial products and improve efficiencies in distributing financial services to the end-user consumers who are seeking financial services and products such as loans, credit cards, and insurance. The Company's service will not only improve financial literacy to a broader audience but it will also ultimately contribute to lowering cost of financial services and products in the market by increasing competitive pressure in the sector and help to increase consumption of financial services.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

CompareAsiaGroup was incubated and funded initially by Nova Founders Capital (Nova), the investment and business development vehicle founded by Mads Faurholt-Jorgensen and Raphael Strauch, both of whom are former Rocket Internet global partners and managing directors. Nova is structured as an Asia-focused VC firm and has investment from Pacific Century Group, an investment company founded by the son of Hong Kong’s Li Ka-Shing. Mads currently serves as the Chairman of the Company. The Company’s other investors include Goldman Sachs, ACE & Company, Jardine Pacific and Route66 Ventures.

CompareAsiaGroup is raising equity to finance: (1) investment in offline marketing to build brand recognition; (2) build out of commercial/marketing and product teams across the region; and (3) investment into the technology platform. The proposed IFC/AMC investment package is up to US$25 million in preferred equity in the Company.


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.

Project Contact: Stephanie Leydier
Email Address:stephanie.leydier@ifc.org
Telephone No.: 202-458-7707

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

How it works

How it works