BlueOrchard's Annual Review
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BlueOrchard's Annual Review 2008
Accomplishments in 2008
- The new BlueOrchard’s Private Equity Fund was able to raise USD 131.1 million in 2008 and began investing in top-level microfinance institutions and network funds, as well as taking an active part in their governance.
- New initiatives launched by BlueOrchard Finance S.A. included the setting up of the BlueOrchard Microfinance investment Fund for US Investors (feeder for the Dexia Micro-Credit Fund), the development of the SEEDS fund for young, promising microfinance institutions and the offer of Financial Advisory Services.
- The financial and economical crisis has slowed but not halted growth of microfinance industry as a whole – BlueOrchard’s partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) showed an average total asset growth of 45% in 2008; BlueOrchard’s assets under management grew 28%.
- The performance of the microfinance investment vehicles managed by BlueOrchard reached the objectives set and more, at between 4 to over 8% depending on the product and share class.
- BlueOrchard received the “Sustainable Deal of the Year” award from the Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation for its ground-breaking structured microfinance investment vehicle “BOLD 2” (closed in 2007). However, as the financial crisis struck, it proved impossible to close another secularization in 2008, as had been planned.
- A number of initiatives were launched industry-wide to develop tools for the social performance and impact evaluation of microfinance activities. BlueOrchard contributed to these projects and also remodeled its own due diligence process in order to better capture the social performance of partner MFIs.
- 2008 also saw many new initiatives towards the secure provision of local currency loans for MFIs,although these initiatives will take time to be implemented. Meanwhile, BlueOrchard further increased its capacity to provide local currency loans with a new hedging partner thus expanding the number of currencies it can operate in.
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