Triple Jump news - Monday, January 16, 2012

OPIC Signs for MicroBuild (Triple Jump)

JANUARY 2012 - Habitat CEO Jonathan Reckford, OPIC President Elizabeth Littlefield and MicroBuild chairman Mike Carscaddon have signed a commitment letter for the funding of the MicroBuild Fund. 

MicroBuild is a Habitat for Humanity International initiative that seeks to facilitate BOP housing solution through microfinance delivery channels. Triple Jump, the Netherlands based asset manager, will act as Fund Manager of MicroBuild.

 

OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution.  It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical world challenges.

In the commitment letter, OPIC agrees to make available an initial capital commitment of USD 45 million with a maturity of 10 years.  The investment will be in the form of a loan facility to the fund that will be majority owned by Habitat for Humanity International. The MicroBuild seeks to accelerate the growth of housing microfinance. 

The purpose of the MicroBuild Fund is:
+ to provide a source of long(er) term social investment capital for financial service retailers who target the poor to expand their housing microfinance portfolios;
+ to demonstrate to the microfinance sector (MFIs, their networks, as well as the donor and investor communities) the viability and scale opportunity of housing microfinance; and
+ to provide leading technical assistance in the design and refinement of housing products, and to steward and share best practices with the sector as they emerge.

Full closing of the MicroBuild Fund is expected at the end of Q1 2012.