Deutsche Bank completes first round of financing under new $50 million social enterprise fund

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., March 16 – Deutsche Bank AG’s Global Social Finance Group announced the closing of the Essential Capital Consortium, a five-year $50 million social enterprise fund.

This latest fund is part of the bank’s family of social impact funds first launched in 2005.

The ECC will finance 25 social enterprises and provide debt financing in the energy, health and “base of the pyramid” financial services sectors.

According to Deutsche, the first round of loans have been made to three organizations: Sproxil, a developer of a patented text message-based drug authentication system; Tiaxa, a provider of “nanocredits” to poor consumers in developing countries via mobile phones using big data analytics; and Arvand, a Tajikistan-based microfinance institution providing innovative “green loans” to finance solar panels, clean cookstoves and other energy-efficient products.

The loan amounts were not disclosed.

In addition to Deutsche Bank, investors include Church Pension Fund, MetLife, Inc., Agence Française de Developpement, Calvert Foundation, Prudential Financial, Inc., the Multilateral Investment Fund, member of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, Left Hand Foundation, IBM International Foundation, Tikehau Capital, Salvepar, Cisco Foundation and the Posner-Wallace Foundation.

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency is also providing credit enhancement support, according to a news release.

“As part of Deutsche Bank’s ongoing commitment to microfinance and the impact industry, the ECC provides responsive debt capital to support the next generation of social entrepreneurs globally who are redefining a market approach to addressing fundamental humanitarian challenges,” said Gary Hattem, head of the Global Social Finance Group at Deutsche Bank.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.