DARP NPL Arena (IFC-49938)

Regions
  • East Asia and Pacific
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
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
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
May 30, 2025
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
DARP NPL Arena
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)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (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.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 200.00 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 May 14, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Mar 26, 2025

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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 Bank’s website, the proposed project entails IFC’s investment in a co-investment vehicle (DARP SPV) to be established by Arena Investors, LP (Arena). The DARP SPV will invest in asset-backed credit portfolios, as well as distressed and special situations opportunities across eligible emerging countries in Asia. The total capitalization of the DARP SPV is up to US$200 million, consisting of: (i) IFC’s investment of up to US$100 million in the form of a senior secured profit participating loan and (ii) up to US$100 million investment in the equity tranche to be invested by Arena and other funds raised and managed by Arena.                                                                                                     

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The proposed Project entails the creation of SPVs which will acquire sub-projects across varied asset classes including NPL portfolios, real estate owned assets and special situations (single assets). The Project will have access to information of individual assets before acquiring them and will not invest in blind pools of assets. The Project will not support any coal related activities such as coal mining, coal transportation, coal fired-power plants, or infrastructure and services dedicated to support any of these activities and higher risk activities that may include (a) involuntary resettlement, (b) risk of adverse impacts on Indigenous Peoples, (c) significant risks to or impacts on the environment, community health and safety, biodiversity and cultural heritage, (d) risk of retrenchment, or (e) significant occupational health and safety risks. The Project is expected to have moderate E&S risks which can be addressed though proper risk mitigation measures and therefore is categorized as FI-2 according to IFC Sustainability Policy. The applicable E&S requirements for the Project include the IFC Exclusion List, applicable national E&S laws and regulations and screening out higher risk assets as well as NPL accounts with significant unresolved E&S reputational risks.

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

The total capitalization of the DARP SPV is up to US$200 million, consisting of: (i) IFC’s investment of up to US$100 million in the form of a senior secured profit participating loan and (ii) up to US$100 million investment in the equity tranche to be invested by Arena and other funds raised and managed by Arena.

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.

Arena is a global institutional asset manager that provides creative solutions for those seeking capital across all corporate, real estate, and structured finance investment areas, with the cumulative capital of over US$5 billion deployed through over 400 transactions since its inception in 2015. Arena is owned and controlled by The Westaim Corporation, an investment holding company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange that focuses on businesses in the global financial services industry. 


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.

Arena Investors LP
Parag Shah
Head of Marketing
1 914 670 7809
pshah@arenaco.com
2500 Westchester Ave.Suite 401Purchase, NY 10577.
https://www.arenaco.com

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

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