International Finance Corporation

International Finance Corporation is a private equity and venture capital arm of The World Bank Group specializing in startups, early stage, mid venture, late venture, late-stage and growth stage companies and also provides growth and expansion capital, mezzanine finance, leasing, microfinance, SME banking, agriculture finance, housing finance, insurance, debt and asset recovery, financial restructuring and rehabilitation, acquisition financing, rehabilitation, and debt refinancing, loans, equity, quasi-equity, trade & supply chain finance and syndications. It seeks to invest in both direct and fund investments. The firm also invests through profit-participating loans, convertible loans, and preferred shares. Through syndications, it provides B loans, parallel loans, A loan participations (ALPS), and managed co-lending portfolio program. The firm does not seek to invest in production or trade in weapons and munitions; alcoholic beverages (excluding beer and wine); tobacco; gambling, casinos, and equivalent enterprises; radioactive materials; unbonded asbestos fibers; drift net fishing in the marine environment using nets in excess of 2.5 km. in length; and in any product or activity deemed illegal under host country laws or regulations or international conventions and agreements, or subject to international bans, such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides/herbicides, ozone depleting substances, PCBs, wildlife, or products regulated under CITES. It does not lend directly to micro, small, and medium enterprises or individual entrepreneurs. For direct investments, the firm seeks to make equity investments. It also offers a full range of quasi-equity products with both debt and equity characteristics, called C-loans. In addition, the firm provides convertible debt and subordinated loan investments, and also offers preferred stock and income note investments. For fund investments, it seeks to invest in private equity, venture capital, and debt funds that invest in emerging-market securities. It seeks to makes investment through loans in projects, intermediary banks, leasing companies, and other financial institutions for on-lending. The firm seeks to invest in agribusiness & forestry with a focus on food security, sustainability and inclusive development; financial institutions with a focus on micro entrepreneurs and small businesses, digital finance, global trade, financial services; health sector with a focus on affordable pharmaceuticals & medical products, healthtech, quality healthcare networks & providers, and knowledge & capital transfer; education sector with a focus on skills & employability and reach & impact; infrastructure sector with focus on power generation, transmission, and distribution, transportation, water, utilities & municipal infrastructure; global manufacturing sector with a focus on textiles & apparel, automotive & machinery, construction materials, chemicals & fertilizers, and renewable energy; oil, gas and mining sector with a focus on exploration, appraisal and development, oil and gas pipelines, oilfield services, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, floating production, storage and offloading; telecommunications, media & technology sector with a focus on broadband development, infrastructure sharing, mobile@ frontier, and financial technology; tourism, retail and property sector with a focus on housing and commercial property; public-private partnership, global financial markets, information and communication technologies, edu-tech, consumer internet including ecommerce and cleantech, natural resources along with e-logistics/e-mobility, consumer technology, enterprise technology, smart cities, waste and sanitization. It invests globally and provides financing to entities based in Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia with a focus on India, China, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, Central America, and the Caribbean, Western Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa. The firm investments typically range from $1 million to $100 million, with a limited number of investments in the $100,000 to $1 million range. It provides various financial products to private sector projects in emerging markets in developing countries. The firm seeks to invest in companies, financial institutions, and other businesses that are majority-owned by the private sector and that are based in a developing country that is a member of the Corporation. The firm generally subscribes to between 5 percent and 15 percent of a project's equity/Company’s equity and makes minority equity investments up to 20 per cent in a single project. It also prefers to take majority stake in its portfolio companies. For new projects, it provides up to 25 percent of the total estimated project costs, or, on an exceptional basis, up to 35 percent in small projects. For expansion projects, the firm provides up to 50 percent of the project cost, provided its investments do not exceed 25 percent of the total capitalization of the project company. In FinTech, the firm considers investments of $3 million to $20 million for a minority equity position, or a minimum of $10 million in debt with equity features. The firm also considers investment in women-owned businesses. It does not take an active role in portfolio company management. It finances projects and companies through loans from their own account and typically exits its investments done through loan within seven to twelve years. It usually maintains equity investments for a period between eight years and 15 years. The firm exits an investment by selling its equity stake through domestic stock markets or arrangements with project sponsors or through a public listing to broaden share ownership. International Finance Corporation was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia with additional offices across Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America.