Zwitserleven, the Spoorweg pensioenfonds and the Pensioenfonds Openbaar Vervoer have made a first deposit in the SNS FMO SME Finance Fund.
SNS Impact Investing, part of SNS Asset Management, and the Dutch development bank FMO jointly initiated this fund, which aims to support local SME’s in developing markets.
The fund has attracted EUR00m in investments at its first close. Commitments are expected to increase substantially in 2014.
The fund will provide loans to financial institutions aiming at supporting SMEs in developing markets worldwide. Through these investments, hundreds of SMEs will gain access to long term finance in the developing markets. Potential recipients of loans are entrepreneurs active in, amongst others, agribusiness, food and distribution, retail business, production and transportation.
The fund invests, through local financial institutions, in small and medium enterprises. These financial institutions – mainly local banks – aim at investing in SMEs in their own region.
Yvonne Bakkum, director of FMO Investment Management, says: “Local banks are best equipped to judge which socially relevant local companies can use finance. This approach also has efficiency benefits, as intensive support and control from the bank are required while financing small and medium enterprises with relatively small loans”.
The investors in this fund are Dutch pension funds and insurance companies.
Theo Brouwers, director of SNS Impact Investing, says: “They realise that their long term obligations are reaching beyond financial return, and are also investments in future generations. Naturally, the fund expects to realise a healthy financial return. It helps that the management fee and additional costs of the fund are relatively low”.
Willem Horstmann, chief financial officer of Zwitserleven, adds: “At Zwitserleven we are conscious of the expectations for the future of our customers – mostly companies that want to arrange the pensions of their employees in a responsible way. As a pension insurance company we want to make sure that returns on our investments are good and at the same time are adding social value. By also investing in developing markets we realise this responsibility.”
