The transaction is the third fund to reach close across the broader GuarantCo portfolio and demonstrates both the breadth of its mandate and its ability to structure innovative credit solutions to mobilise private sector capital at scale.
Through the fund vehicle, ALMA will provide flexible debt financing to innovative financial institutions, fintechs and other small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets, particularly in Asia and in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This will include making loans to innovative companies with gender empowerment initiatives such as supporting women-led or owned businesses, financial institutions and fintechs lending to women, and other projects aligned to the 2X Challenge. Both PIDG and ALMA are active members of the 2X Challenge, which has played a critical role in setting frameworks to advance the field of gender-lens investing.
The ALMA-managed fund will also lend to an array of climate-positive SMEs, including for electric vehicle leasing and small-scale renewable energy. These projects are expected to generate significant social and environmental benefits such as carbon emissions reductions and removals, energy access, enhanced biodiversity and improved community livelihoods. As a result, this transaction is well-aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 (Gender Equality) and 13 (Climate Action).
GuarantCo provided a partial credit guarantee of USD 75 million to cover the loan proceeds from anchor investor Aegon Asset Management and other global institutional investors into ALMA’s Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Nava Capital 1. ALMA provided a USD 10 million subordinated tranche as additional first-loss protection. The investments were made to the SPV via a Symbiotics-arranged platform, a trusted partner to GuarantCo in several transactions over the last 12 months, which has made the format of the investments suitable for Aegon Asset Management and other global institutional investors.
Through the recycling of capital, the fund is expected to deploy up to USD 240 million, crowd in institutional capital, and create a replicable model with reduced need for future guarantee support.
Dave Chalila, Head of Africa Investments, GuarantCo, said: “This is an important transaction for us, as ALMA’s emerging markets-focused climate finance vehicle is innovative for having gender-lens investing as its primary objective. The impact targeted by ALMA of empowering women through increased financial inclusion and greater environmental stewardship is perfectly aligned to our own gender-lens investing and climate action priorities. Our guarantee enables the mobilisation of private capital into the vehicle and the replication of our proven model with Symbiotics to deliver accelerated impact.”
Gautam Ivatury, Managing Partner, ALMA, said: “We’re thrilled to launch this new partnership with the foundational support of GuarantCo, alongside Aegon Asset Management and other institutional investors, to allow ALMA to get more capital into the hands of inspiring entrepreneurs who are having real impact on the customers they serve, whether that’s through access to finance, clean mobility, clean energy, or products that target women. This vehicle represents an innovative development impact finance structure that can be scaled up to reach even more financial institutions and SMEs in emerging markets.”
George Nijborg, Head of Insured Strategies and European Private placements at Aegon Asset Management said: “We believe innovative solutions are required to mobilise private capital into impactful emerging market private debt. Our partnership with ALMA, GuarantCo and Symbiotics has enabled institutional capital to support an UN SDG-aligned transaction in which both gender empowerment and climate impact and resilience is enabled across various emerging market countries. The guarantee provided solves a critical part of the puzzle as our clients benefit from capital protection, stable returns and a capital efficient solution. All-in-all, this milestone transaction is yet another example of the collaboration that can be achieved between trusted partners to help our clients’ sustainable and impact investing ambitions.”
Valeria Berzunza, Repack Lead from Symbiotics, said: “Strong partnerships and shared commitment are essential to unlock capital for initiatives advancing financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment. Building on our longstanding collaboration with GuarantCo and establishing new partnership with Aegon has enabled us to mobilise investment for impactful projects such as ALMA. We are proud to play our part in supporting women’s economic empowerment and climate resilience.”
