Bellwether Microfinance Fund has received an investment of $2.4 mn from Dutch financial company Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden NV (FMO). FMO has an 18.6% holding of the total paid-up equity in the BW with this investment. FMO is the third foreign institutional investor to invest in Bellwether.
Hyderabad-based Bellwether is India’s first microfinance venture capital fund. It was invested in 2005 and has invested till date Rs. 19 crores. So far, it has made 10 investments aggregating Rs. 27.5 crores in a wide variety of MFIs. Over 80% of its funds committed till now have been in the traditional microfinance markets of the four southern states. It is managed by its fund management company, Caspian Advisors Private Limited. Caspian is composed of a team of microfinance experts.
As of now, the Hivos-Triodos Fund of the Netherlands and the Gray Ghost Microfinance Fund of USA are the major investors in Bellwether. The two investors have also subscribed to additional shares amounting to $1.2 mn each.
Read the article in Business Standard.
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