Letshego Namibia Housing (IFC-44605)

Countries
  • Namibia
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
U
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
Jun 25, 2021
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
LETSHEGO HOLDINGS (NAMIBIA) LIMITED
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Industry and Trade
  • Infrastructure
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)
$ 50.00 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 27, 2021

Disclosed by Bank May 24, 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 bank provided information, the proposed project (“the Project”) consists of a 5-year senior loan of up to US $50 million to the banking and microfinance subsidiaries of Letshego Namibia (“Letshego or the Company”). IFC’s facility will help Letshego promote access to housing finance via affordable housing mortgages and home improvement loans to un(der)served individuals in Namibia.

The Company has expressed interested in an IFC Advisory Services (AS) engagement to support the further development of housing, micro-finance, and SME products. The AS team has had several meetings at a country and group level and is formulating an engagement proposal.

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

The proposed IFC investment is a senior loan of up to US $50 million with a tenor of 5-year period with a 2-year grace period.

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.

Company: Letshego Namibia is composed by a holding company, Letshego Holdings Namibia Ltd (“LHN”), and its two fully owned subsidiaries: Letshego Bank Namibia Ltd (LBN) and Letshego Micro Financial Services Namibia (Pty) Ltd (LMFSN). Letshego is the biggest payroll lender in Namibia and the 5th largest bank in the country by assets.

Shareholders: LHN is owned 78.5% by the Letshego Holdings Limited (“LHL” or “the Group”), 12% by Kumwe Investment Holdings, and 9.5% by retail and institutional investors via the Botswana Stock Exchange. LHN does not have commercial activity of its own and is controlled by the Botswana-based LHL, which is present in eleven countries across Southern, East and West Africa. The Group offers a wide range of products, with unsecured short-term and long-term loans being its principal product.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Limited Client -

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.

Letshego
Arvind Prahlad
Regional Finance Manager
+ 267 364 3000
arvindp@letshego.com 
Letshego Place 22, Khama Crescent Gaborone, Botswana
https://www.letshego.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 

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How it works