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Proparco acquires a stake in EDFI Management Company

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Proparco recently acquired a 12.5% stake in EDFI management company (EDFI MC), which manages concessional funds on behalf of 15 European Development Finance Institutions (EDFIs), including Proparco. This strategic investment will increase the level of operational cooperation between the EDFIs and further strengthen their partnership with the European Union.

Based in Brussels and established in 2016, the EDFI Management Company (EDFI MC) promotes closer cooperation with the EU through operating partnerships. One key activity of EDFI MC is to help the EDFIs manage the grant funds and concessional instruments allocated to them by the European commission. Its two main facilities (AgriFI* and ElectriFI**) deal with sectors with high developmental benefits, namely agribusiness and small-scale energy projects. More recently, EDFI MC has taken on the management the ICCF (Interact Climate Change Facility) and EFP (European Financing Partners) facilities, as well as a new guarantee instrument. This enables the EDFIs to increase the scale and impact of their work by deploying more funds, as well as investing them in higher risk projects than would otherwise be possible.

Proparco has been involved in EDFI MC since its inception, as a shareholder and board member, and by taking part in the investment committees of ElectriFI and AgriFI.  

In order to support the growth of EDFI MC and strengthen its strategic partnership with the EU, it was crucial that more members of the EDFI association became shareholders in EDFI MC. Therefore, Proparco, alongside its European counterparts, took part in EDFI MC’s capital increase, by buying newly-issued shares. Proparco and five other EDFIs are now shareholders with 12.5% each, with the EDFI association holding the remaining 25%.  

With this direct investment in EDFI MC, Proparco is reaffirming its support for a unique initiative, which is the concrete realisation of the cooperation between 15 European DFIs. It is an investment of strategic importance for Proparco: it will increase our capacity to support to sectors and activities that have been difficult for DFIs to finance on their own, while strengthening our partnership with the European Union. EDFI MC is a great illustration of what we can do at the European level to pool resources and standardise practices for greater efficiency and development impact, said Grégory Clemente, CEO of Proparco. 

 

* ElectriFI
The EU’s electrification funding initiative, “ElectriFI”, helps to harness and stimulate private sector investment to enhance access to renewable energy. More specifically, it focuses on poorly-served rural populations and regions that suffer from an unreliable electricity service. 
Find out more about ElectriFI

** AgriFI
« AgriFI », the Agriculture Financing Initiative, is an EU-funded impact investment facility with a mandate to provide medium- to long-term financing to private sector enterprises active in the agri-food value chain with a focus on smallholder farmers.
Find out more about AgriFI