OPIC Signs Commitment Letter

FEBRUARY 2012 – Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (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 Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) housing solutions through microfinance delivery channels. Triple Jump, the Netherlands-based asset manager, will act as Fund Manager for MicroBuild. OPIC is the U.S. government’s development finance agency, which mobilises 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 Fund 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 serve the poor so that they can expand their housing microfinance portfolios;
+ to demonstrate the viability and scale opportunities of housing microfinance to the microfinance sector (MFIs, their networks, as well as the donor and investor communities); and
+ to provide leading technical assistance in the design and refinement of housing products, and to supervise and share best practices with the sector as they emerge.

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