CHG Syndication (IFC-40174)

Countries
  • China
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Chongqing
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
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
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."
Voting Date
Jan 12, 2018
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
Chongqing Economic and Technological Development Zone Houze Small Loan Co., Ltd
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.
Ring Fence
  • Housing
A financial intermediary is a commercial bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank, sometimes for a specific lending purpose. A "ring fence" is another name for this specific purpose. These funds are then used for lending by the financial intermediary to client companies or individuals.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 75.00 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 Aug 5, 2018

Disclosed by Bank Nov 1, 2017

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.

This proposed project is an up to US$75 million financing package, consisting of up to RMB100 million (approximately US$15 million) IFC A Loan and up to US$60 million and/or its RMB equivalent (can be increased to US$85 million in case of over-subscription) Syndicated Loan. The project represents IFC ’s continuous effort in supporting the private sector led affordable housing projects in China.

Established in 2013 in Chongqing, China and sponsored by Clearwater Capital Partners, LLC (“Clearwater”), Chongqing Economic and Technological Development Zone Houze Small Loan Co., Ltd (“CHG” or the “Company”) focuses on providing debt financing to privately-owned residential housing developers in Southwest China, including the frontier regions in Southwest China. CHG is an existing client of IFC since 2016.

The project sponsor Clearwater is an Asia-dedicated and special situations investment firm founded in 2001. Clearwater now has about US$1.3 billion assets under management. The firm has six offices in Chongqing , Hong Kong, Mumbai, New York, Seoul and Singapore.

CHG is ultimately controlled by Clearwater. It is 80.9% indirectly owned by Clearwater China Investments L.P., a U.S. Delaware limited partnership, and 19.1% indirectly owned by IFC. The Delaware Partnership received contribution from two limited partners, Clearwater Capital Partners Fund IV, L.P. (63.3%) and Clearwater CHG Co-Investment Fund, L.P. (36.7%), both are managed by Clearwater. In July 2012, Clearwater Fund IV secured US$575 million capital commitments from corporate and state pension plans, fund of funds, endowments, foundations and family offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

People Affected By This Project
People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

1) Expanding Access to Finance for Private Sector Led Affordable Housing Projects: The Project will provide liquidity to build private sector led affordable housing projects to enable migrant workers, and lower income urban households in China to afford higher quality housing. The Project is expected to finance an additional 6,000 affordable housing units per year and benefit about 30,000 families; 2) Promoting Greater Market Competitiveness: The Project has the potential to promote greater market competitiveness by facilitating private sector participation in the supply side of the affordable housing market; 3) Promoting Greater Market Sustainability: With IFC's help, CHG has implemented its own E&S Risk Management System to effectively assess and monitor the E&S risks of its projects and kept improving the system. The adoption of high E&S standards can help promote greater market sustainability.

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 Actor Relationship
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.

There is often limited information publicly available about what development banks are funding through financial intermediaries. In 2021, the Early Warning System partnered with Oxfam International to incorporate information on high-risk projects being funded by financial intermediaries receiving funding from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Dutch Development Bank (FMO).

The information listed below describes the relationship between the different private actors linked to high-risk sectors and subprojects of IFC and FMO's financial intermediary investments and/or the financial intermediary's parent companies made from 2017 through 2020, including any associated ring fences.

The database, however, does not explicitly or implicitly imply that IFC or FMO have material exposure to or are contractually or legally accountable to the sub-projects financed by their financial intermediaries or the financial intermediary's parent companies. It only shows a seemingly financial relationship among the different private actors, the financial intermediaries, and IFC or FMO.

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.

It is ultimately controlled by Clearwater. It is 80.9% indirectly owned by Clearwater China Investments L.P., a U.S. Delaware limited partnership, and 19.1% indirectly owned by IFC. The Delaware Partnership received contribution from two limited partners, Clearwater Capital Partners Fund IV, L.P. (63.3%) and Clearwater CHG Co-Investment Fund, L.P. (36.7%), both are managed by Clearwater. In July 2012, Clearwater Fund IV secured US$575 million capital commitments from corporate and state pension plans, fund of funds, endowments, foundations and family offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia.  


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.

Mr. Claude Gong
CEO of Chongqing Economic and Technological Development Zone House Small Loan Co., Ltd
+86-23-6037-2380
cgong@chinahouze.com
Unit 33-11, Metropolitan Oriental Plaza, No. 68 Zourong Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing, P.R. China
http://www.clearwatercapitalpartners.com

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