LankaBangla gets $15m foreign loan
LankaBangla Financing has received a overseas loan of $15 million from Luxembourg-based BlueOrchard Microfinance Fund.
The mortgage loan proceeds will meet financing needs of tiny and moderate enterprises (SMEs) and green and sustainable projects in a way that hardships stemming from the coronavirus pandemic could be smoothly overcome.
Switzerland-based impact fund manager BlueOrchard Finance and Green Delta Capital built the arrangements last month.
The Green Delta can be acting as the security agent with respect to BlueOrchard Microfinance Fund in this transaction.
This is actually the second cross border debt transaction for LankaBangla.
The non-bank lender received its maiden foreign mortgage in 2019 from the Islamic Corporation for the Advancement of the Private Sector.
BlueOrchard seeks to donate to economic, environmental and cultural development and to improve access to personal services to those in the bottom of the pyramid and also SMEs, mainly on emerging markets.
This is its first transaction in the Bangladesh market and with a Bangladeshi recipient.
Normunds Mizis, chief credit officer of BlueOrchard Finance, said it would noticeably raise the SME sector found in Bangladesh.
Khwaja Shahriar, managing director of LankaBangla, said obtaining forex loans was a the main NBFI's corporate strategy to widen the borrowing mix, which would definitely support it arrest the price tag on funds somewhat.
"As we received the fund at a competitive interest, we will end up being able to change the same profit to our end-clients, specifically SMEs and emerging sectors," he said.
Md Rafiqul Islam, managing director of Green Delta Capital, said such investments would support unlock more overseas financing in Bangladesh.
