Imfino News

BlueOrchard Microfinance Fund (BOMF) becoming world’s largest microfinance fund reaching USD 1.3 bn and surpassing an annual net performance of USD 4%

• 50 new institutions financed and 3 new countries (Jordan, Vietnam and Honduras) have been added to BlueOrchard’s investment universe totaling to 70 countries
• In 2017 only, BlueOrchard has reached out to more than 1,6 million new clients. Overall, the firm has initialized to date loans to over 35 million micro-entrepreneurs in emerging and frontier markets
• Fighting poverty and the effects of climate change, the firm has launched new initiatives and products extending its multi-asset class offering – demonstrating its capability as one stop shop for impact investors globally

Zurich, 17 January 2018 – 2017 has been a successful year for BlueOrchard with strong top quartile fund performance and an even greater positive social impact, positioning the firm on a sustained growth path as the leading multi-asset class impact investment manager.

BlueOrchard reports solid performance and growth across all its 7 funds, building on its existing and new investors’ base, a strong investment pipeline as well as highly qualified and experienced staff across 7 offices. To date, the company has disbursed 4.7 bn USD across 70 emerging and frontier countries, reaching out to more than 35 million people.

In 2017 BlueOrchard took up responsibility for the prestigious InsuResilience Investment Fund, initiated by KfW, the German Development Bank, on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development – combining private debt and private equity investments as well as technical assistance to develop climate insurance solutions for the poor and vulnerable – as well as for the Enabling Microfinance Fund (EMF) – an open-end investment fund, originated in Liechtenstein. Furthermore, the company was given the opportunity to participate in public-private syndicated loans arranged by global development banks, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in some of the most underbanked countries.

Outlook: Extension of asset-class offering

BlueOrchard provides innovative investment opportunities including private and public debt, private equity, real estate and sustainable infrastructure. New initiatives include:

• Impact Bond Fund, granting investors for the first time access to a “liquid Microfinance Fund”(UCITS)
• Sub national Climate Fund together with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Foundation R20 Regions of Climate Action: a unique initiative addressing the funding gap for green infrastructure projects at a sub national level in developing countries
• Caucasus Real Estate Fund, providing energy-efficient and climate neutral property investments in the Caucasus region

“Our results in 2017 reflect the progress in empowering people across urban and rural populations in the emerging world to grow out of poverty and to withstand the effects of climate change,” says Peter A. Fanconi, BlueOrchard’s Chairman of the Board.

“I am very pleased with the development of our firm in 2017, in which we have achieved outstanding triple bottom line performance and demonstrated our innovation capacity. We are very confident that 2018 will lead to similar results,” adds Dr. Patrick Scheurle, CEO of BlueOrchard.