With a loan portfolio of 360 mn, it sets a target to raise number of clients in Asia to 6 million by 2020 from 1.6 million now
Netherlands-based Asian microfinance player CreditAccess Asia NV is betting big on the sector and is set to pump in about Rs 1,000 crore in its operations in the region, of which India forms the biggest chunk.
The company has just received a boost of about Rs 671 crore via equity capital, including Rs 212 crore from Asian Development Bank (ADB), additional funding by existing investors like Olympus Capital Asia and another Rs 335 crore as part of debt conversion, Attique Saleem, spokesperson of Amsterdam-headquartered parent CreditAccess, told DNA Money.
"ADB is investing into CreditAccess Rs 212 crore or 30 million. Rs 335 crore or 47.4 million would be coming as part of debt conversion. Funding into the Indian subsidiary will go as per growth requirements periodically," the official said in an e-mail response.
Beyond this, CreditAccess has raised some additional money through divestment of non-core assets, generating an aggregate kitty of about Rs 970 crore.
As part of such divestment, CreditAccess, which was holding 10% of the pre-IPO equity of microfinance player Equitas, had earlier sold off half of its investments, netting a profit of 18.5 million, when Equitas got listed.
The cash proceeds from the part-sale of its stake in Equitas will be used to fund the expansion in existing markets and to set up operations in new geographies within Asia.
Another major round of fund-raising would happen when CreditAccess goes public, which is likely to happen in near future.
"We have set ourselves on the path of an IPO in the near future. We have put together an IPO strategy team with internal and external advisors to determine how, where and when we will publicly list our company," the official said without disclosing whether the listing would happen in India.
Founded in 2007 by Paolo Brichetti, CreditAccess provides financial services to the poor and unbanked through microfinance entities like Grameen Koota in India, Bina Artha in Indonesia and One Puhunan in the Philippines.
With a loan portfolio of around 360 million, CreditAccess has set an ambitious target to raise the number of clients it serves in Asia from about 1.6 million now to 6 million by 2020.
Out of this 1.6 million, Grameen Koota accounts for 1.2 million and a loan portfolio of Rs 180 crore in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
In June, the MFI received Rs 135 crore of funding from World Bank affiliate International Finance Corporation.
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